Beast Wars: REBIRTH Volume Two
by Jaggid
Summary: Things have finally started to calm down on Earth...or have things only just started to heat up? The Beast Wars continue as friendships are tested, adventures are had and conspiracies are unveiled in Volume Two of Beast Wars: REBIRTH!
1. After the Storm

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 16:** After the Storm

The next morning, the mountain cove of Pangaea One was unusually quiet. The formerly converted Maximals, including Rattrap, were feeling cut-off from the rest of the group. The tension was still looming like a low fog. It was not that the Maximals didn't trust their recently reinstated comrades, but the memory of the last few days lingered, making everyone uncomfortable talking to anyone else. It wasn't even anyone's fault.

Only one seemed unaffected by it all.

Sandskimmer sat in front of a monitor, more focused on it than ever before, as if staring at the screen would block out the rest of the cave.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his shoulder (though non-threateningly) and spun him around in his chair. Skimmer gasped in surprise as the base spun with him. Finally, the hand stopped him. The dizzy Maximal focused his blurred optics on…

"Ah!"

Greyback's face was uncomfortably close to his, with an unusually wide grin on it.

"Mornin' skipper," the jerboa laughed nervously, unsure of what to make of this strange situation.

"Morning Skimmer," Greyback replied with and air of uncharacteristic gaiety, "wonderful morning, isn't it?"

Sandskimmer stared at him in utter disbelief. "What planet are you on, mate?"

"Earth," Greyback answered obliviously, "and it's a wonderful planet."

"You're staring to scare me…" Sandskimmer said, retreating as far as he could into the back of his chair.

Greyback laughed heartily in response and patted the young Maximal's shoulder. Then something caught his eye at the central console. He smiled and patted Sandskimmer's cheek twice as a farewell and walked jollily away, leaving the jerboa stunned and confused.

Greyback almost waltzed over to the console, greeting everyone he passed with a cheery "Morning!"; turning every head in the room, including the one he was headed for.

"We're chirpy today, aren't we?" asked Jagna, who was busy assessing the new security codes for each base.

"We have our reasons," Greyback returned with a wink. She laughed lightly, but she cleared her throat and quickly turned her head back to the holographic schematics she had been inspecting. She, too, felt awkward being herself around the others after the fiasco of the last few days.

Greyback paused and took the time at last to gaze around properly.

_Everyone's so miserable_, he observed. Yes, he understood, but no one was at fault and they were all together again. _There's no need to be like this…_

His eyes wondered back to Jagna as she leaned over the console to get a closer look at her codes. A thought popped into his head, and he grinned. He decided it was time for the others to realise that the past was no longer the now.

He walked over and stood next to his commander. She straightened up, about to ask him what he wanted, but she never got the chance.

He grabbed her waist and pulled her towards him, dipped her deeply and locked his lips onto hers.

Her eyes were wide as plates to start with as she wondered what the heck was going on. But she caught on quick, and embraced it. The two of them smiled, almost laughed as they sensed everyone in the room staring at them, gob smacked.

After a few more seconds of simply enjoying themselves, Greyback lifted Jagna back upright and let her go, a little reluctantly. Smiling broadly at each other, Jagna said, "Alright you, get back to whatever work you're supposed to be doing,"

Just as playfully, Greyback replied, "Yes commander,"

She turned back to the hologram, the two of them ignoring the astonished chins on the floor. Before he left, Greyback pulled on her tail, making her 'Miaow!' with surprise. She squinted at him as he exited the cavern, chortling.

"Haven't you lot got work to do?" Jagna asked the room, her tone now much lighter than it was.

Wildcat picked up his jaw and whispered to Signia, "Did that just happen?" Without taking her eyes off Jagna, he dolphin nodded in response, unable to speak from shock.

Everyone looked at each other awkwardly, trying to decide how to react. No one had smiled all morning.

Spanner slowly shuffled towards Jagna, who lifted her head when he reached her. It took him a while to speak, but when he could manage he said,

"Do we all get to say good morning to you like that now?"

After half a second of silence, they burst out laughing, bent over double or leaning on the console for support. Eventually, the whole room joined in, and the tension was finally lifted as friend laughed together once more.

…

……

…

At the Predacon base, Arachnikahn was still recovering from his fury fit of the previous night.

"Not only do they undermine me," he had bellowed uncontrollably so his voice echoed down every corridor of every level of Porta Magma, "they defy me, betray me, and my sorry excuse for a lethal Predacon army couldn't do anything about it and let a HANDFUL OF MAXIMALS GET THE BETTER OF THEM!"

This morning he sat alone in the control centre where none of his Predacons dared venture. He sat slumped low in a chair, drumming his claws on the arm. He knew now, as well as having suspected anyway, that Troupe Iniquity had ulterior motives they had been implementing behind his back. What worried him now were the inevitable consequences of their untimely demise.

Death did not concern him; he had lived through it once already. It was how he would suffer until then that terrified him, frankly.

_No. Not after I've come so far…_

"You will not find me!" He slammed him fist on his chair with such force he left a fist shaped dent.

"Ssssssir?"

"Leave me…" Kahn said hurriedly. He did not know how long Serpentia had been standing there…

"I havvvve a progresssss report for…"

"I am not interested…" he hissed back, almost as strongly as her.

She continued anyway, "Desssspite our recccent…failure…." She uttered with slight difficulty, "…we can at leassssst be thankful that Maxxximal morality isss down tenfffold. All their ffffield unitsss are being called to basses, and it isss possssible they will ssssoon be evacuating Pangaea Two."

Kahn snorted, unimpressed. Maximal morality at its lowest did please him the majority of the time, but today was…just not his day. Besides, Maximals had that annoying tendency to turn dire situations into energon and daisies. That mindless optimism had always sickened him.

"I have a suggesssstion…" the serpent offered. A twitch on his brow was a signal she could continue, "…Arctech hasss completed and refffined the ressssearch we uncovered."

Kahn's interest was lit up again. "And?"

"And it can be done."

"Excellent," he uttered slyly, and broke into his manic laugh, joined by celebratory hissing from his lieutenant.

…

……

…

"Where is he? Where is he?!"

Skylark ran manically through the base asking everyone she passed the same question, and before they could respond with "Who?" she was already asking the next person.

At last she spotted her quarry: Greyback, and ran flat out towards him. He spotted her to, but not in enough time to escape her flight path. She crashed into him with a gear grinding hug, lifting him a foot off the ground.

Dazed and winded, he tried to ask what the slag she was doing, but she put him down and adjusted his position into a head locking snuggle and rubbed his head, all the while squealing, "At last! At last! At last!" She then finally ceased rubbing his crown like she was grating cheese and squeezed his head in another tight hug. She was making strange high-pitched noises as she giggled uncontrollably with delight.

"Sky!" came Greyback's muffled shout, "As lovely as your cleavage is, I'd appreciate a chance to breathe, please!"

"Oh, right, sorry," the owl replied sheepishly, still grinning as she released him. As he rubbed his neck, she poked his stomach, repeatedly chanting, "You! you! you!..."

He attempted to block the poking, failed, and couldn't help but laugh. "What in the Pitt are you poking me for?" he demanded between chuckles.

"You know full well!" she squeaked, pointing a finger at him, having finished her finger torture exercise. When he continued to look cluelessly dumfounded, she huffed and continued, "A certain THING you MIGHT have FORGOTTEN to tell me this morning?"

He finally caught on, and chuckled. That little titter was just the confirmation Skylark was looking for. She squealed even louder, jumping up and down, clapping her hands, and couldn't resist another hug.

"At last!" she sang again, "Do you have ANY idea how LONG you guys have kept me waiting? It feels like a millennium. Oh wait, it HAS been a millennium!"

"Woah Sky, calm down," Greyback said amusedly, placing a hand on her shoulder as if to prevent her jumping too high and cracking her head on the ceiling, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Puh-LEEZ!" she heaved waving her arms, "As if it wasn't obvious?! I'm so happy for you guys, come here!"

Once again, she grasped him around the waist and squeezed him tightly, and he would have blushed were he not made f metal. Was it that obvious?

"Have you confronted Jag in this manner?" he asked amusedly when she let him go.

"Nope. She's next!"

After one final squeeze she was off like a shot. Grey considered warning the leopard, but…

"Nah."

…

……

…

In a training cave, Llamara stood as still as a statue, a sword in each hand. Then, with the most precise excellence her body moved with each cutting edge as if following choreography to a dance. She had never been so precise in execution with her weapons before, but after the recent incident, her understanding of how to use them elevated.

The swishes of the motion echoed through the cave, creating a deadly sound. Llamara felt strangely at ease with it.

She swung around, each sword passing her one by one, graceful at first. But she saw Spanner standing at the entrance and dropped them clumsily with a gasp of surprise. The macaw winced when the swords fell.

"How…" the llama femme panted nervously, "How long have you been standing there?"

"You've gotten pretty good with those thangs," Spanner commented just as nervously, but in a more terrified way.

"Yes, well…" Llamara shuffled and cowed her hooves, "I was just…"

"Y'know what? Imma gonna let you…y'know…" He exited swiftly without looking at her.

Llamara was left standing alone in the room, her posture slumped and awkward as she stared at the empty space Spanner had just occupied.

She dragged her feet towards a stone bench and dropped herself onto it, burying her face in her hands, sobbing lightly.

It might have been ten seconds or ten cycles, but after a while she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up.

"Oh, Nomad…" she breathed. He gave her a small smile.

"At last. You are the first not to have called me Drifter. I was starting to worry my name had been forgotten," the camel replied disheartedly. She tried to laugh, but it came out as a choke. He sat down next to her, keeping his hand on her shoulder.

"At last," she repeated with a gasp of irony, "You're the first one to talk to me willingly,"

"I understand how you feel," he began.

"No, you don't," she interrupted firmly, rising to her feet and throwing his hand off her, "You see these things?" She walked over to one of her fallen blades and picked it up to show him, "Three days ago they were my safeguard. Despite how long I've had them, I was never much good with them. Do you know why? Because I didn't use them. I didn't need to, I didn't want to use them. But then they became…they…I became…"

Her voice started to change pitch, and her words became more and more difficult to utter.

"Having said that," she continued, "If I **did** know how to use them, perhaps this wouldn't have happened. They took us by surprise, but perhaps if I knew how to defend myself, defend you guys…I wouldn't have become such a monster."

"It was not you," Nomad replied straight away, rising to his feet as well, "You would never do such a…"

"You're right, I wouldn't!" she snapped, now getting hysterical, "But…I…I liked it…"

He stared at her, but her gaze remained on the floor.

"I liked knowing what I was doing, not what I was doing…" she continued slowly and defensively, "…I liked being in control. For the first time, even though it wasn't me doing it, I knew how to fight. But what I hated was that what I was fighting for wasn't right. And that witch…" She pursed her lips at the memory of Peruvia, "…she used that against me!"

Her grip on the handle of her blade tightened so that her hand shook. Then it loosened, and her arm lost its strength to keep itself up. She did not drop her sword, but it tentatively dangled in her grasp. She covered her face with her free hand and breathed unevenly, trying to control herself.

Nomad's hand took hers that held her blade and lifted it up. She reluctantly let go of her face and saw that he was holding it up in front of her so that she could see her reflection.

"I do not see a witch," he said kindly, letting go of her arm. She held her blade steady now. "I see the same caring Maximal you always were. And she's here to stay."

She turned around to look at him.

"As am I."

For the first time since their reincarnation, she smiled, and he did too.

Suddenly, Accinon ran into the room, panting.

"Llamara! Nomad! There you are!"

"You were looking for us?" the llama enquired cautiously, wondering why Accinon wasn't looking at them like the others had been. In fact, the lynx was smiling.

"Yeah, Jag's called a meeting in the main control centre," Accinon informed them.

"We did not receive any notification," Nomad said slowly.

"New protocol," Accinon explained, "messages are being sent personally until security is reconfigured. She felt them staring at her, unsure. "Come on, guys!" she said desperately, walking to stand in between them, "It's been weird for all of us, but…well, it's over now. Whaddya say?"

She placed her arms around both of them, and they stumbled, wide-eyed. Llamara looked down into the young Maximal's optics. She was thrilled to see that Accinon was being genuine, and some of her guilt lifted off her.

"I say…let's not be late!" She returned the gesture by putting her own arm around the lynx's waist. Accinon looked up at Nomad, who smiled when Llamara did.

"Thank you," he said quietly to the little femme.

…

……

…

Porta Magma was buzzing uncomfortably, too. Everyone knew they were in for it when Arachnikahn eventually came out of his strop.

Fights erupted every now and then amongst the Predacons who were at home base and who were stationed at Pangaea One.

"You couldn't handle a few Maximals and a wayward bunch o' zombies!"

"While you sat on your fat aft doing absolutely nothing!"

Xaphron tutted seriously. Well, 'serious' as in she tried to look serious. No one ever took her seriously. The komodo dragon mech Gammatron happened to be next to her.

"What?" he asked irritably as she continued to resemble a clock ticking.

"This. Is. Ridiculous," she moaned, her dragonfly wings buzzing in annoyance, "There's always at least one conspiracy working at a time. Sometimes more! Seriously, everyone here seems to be thinking about taking over, or making trouble, or planning to take over the universe, yada yada yada," she said dramatically, not taking it too seriously herself. Gammatron just kept a neutral face and 'listened' to her, "There's the whole 'how did this thing start?' cover up, the Iniquities, I'm positive Crowbeak's got this Starscream complex, Serpentia's hiding something, even I'm thinking of taking over just to get it over and done with! The only one who seems even remotely sane is y…" She caught the look on his face, which seemed to say otherwise. "Oh, come on!" the insect wailed hopelessly, "What could you possibly be up to?"

He did not respond for a while. "Wouldn't you like to know…"

Xaphron buzzed suspiciously. "Well, I suppose it can't be the worst one. Ow, my head. I'm gonna go lie down…"

The lizard stared after her, "Yesss. You do that…"

…

……

…

Greyback watched the Maximals tentatively enter the control cave, eyeing each other awkwardly as they did. He shook his head. Then he spotted Jagna coming out of the third corridor to his left. He noticed she was limping, and grinned.

"Skylark?" he enquired.

"She jumped up and down on my foot," the leopard answered irritably. She could obviously sense he knew something like that would happen. "That and I might need a new neck brace…"

"Awfully excitable today, isn't she?"

"Don't give me that. I will have justice!"

…

……

…

"This should be interestin'…" Rattrap mumbled to Shellshock who nodded. He had not said a word all morning, and had been deliberately avoiding Nightshaft. What she said last night hit home hard. He never would have thought his best friend would think of him like that.

The Maximal leader braced herself before she entered the control cave. When she did, many people pretended not to notice. It was only when she was stood on top of her 'podium' near the centre back wall with Greyback stood behind her did everyone listen.

It took her a little while to speak. "Well…" she began as nonchalantly as she could, "Obviously there's a lot to explain…"

"Can I say something?" Caricaal asked timidly from amongst the crowd, raising her hand.

Jagna nodded after a moment's hesitation. The desert feline stepped forward. She was usually so quiet, and would never have asked to speak before.

"You can stare at us like this all day, but you should know it hurts more than if you slagged us all off. You can ask us questions if you feel we need to gain your trust back, provided they're not about Hellcat. Or Jaggid, or Eradicator, or any of them. We don't know." she said simply and plainly, "And no matter how strongly you think we're lying, we're not. Ask us, then ask yourselves, 'Would I lie?' How could you?"

The base remained silent. The Iniquities' victims lowered their heads, as Carri stared imploringly into the crowd. Nothing. She gave up, and resumed her conspicuous position in the silent crowd.

"Alright, that's it!" Greyback shouted, pushing past Jagna to stand in front of the Maximals, "I'm gonna go ahead and say it straight out: get over it people!" The room stared at him. "It's weird, it's awkward, I'm not going to deny that. But rather than avoiding them, we should be grateful we have our friends back in one piece."

As he said it, he took a few steps backwards, and placed his arm around Jagna. Whispers erupted from bots who had missed the morning's events, and smiles spread across the faces of those who hadn't.

"We can move on now," Greyback continued, sweeping the cave with his gaze, "And let's face it; if I can, anyone can, right?" A wave of agreeing murmurs flooded the room. "There we go," he said quietly with a smile.

"Well said," complimented Jagna. She pulled his tail, and he let out a small yelp. He squinted down at her, and she smiled innocently.

Shellshock bumped into the pair, and he grinned widely. "You dawg," he said with a wink and a hard nudge.

"Yeah, yeah, very good, Shell…" Greyback replied, nursing his arm.

"Right then. Onto the new protocol for security around here," Jagna announced, clapping her hands together, "Obviously, leaving the codes solely with me is a…a bad idea," she shifted uncomfortably and cleared her throat, "So I'll be needing a few volunteers to help me out with something quite important…"

There was silence.

"Anyone?"

Still there was no response.

"Well. So much for that," Jagna said, rather deflated.

"I'll do it!" Cheetor suddenly said, raising his hand. The femme looked at him, dumbstruck for a moment, then her gaze turned to admiration.

"Thank you, Cheetor," she said slowly, as if still unsure if it had actually happened. He smiled back at her.

"Count me in!" Moonhawk chirped, raising her hand and stepping forward. Jagna's smile broadened pleasantly.

"Et moi," Souris squeaked, followed by Bounder and Sky Scraper.

Jagna beamed. "Excellent. That'll do. Alright you lot, with me," She beckoned them to follow her into one of the side chambers, and signalled to Skylark to take to the stand.

The owl stepped forward and announced, "And the rest of us will be given our own unique codes to access the main consoles and secondary security depository. It'll take a few days though, and each of you is going to have to go into stasis lock for about 6 megacycles to download the whole programme, so to speak. Optimus, if you don't mind, you'll be first."

Optimus was a little surprised, but he nodded in agreement. Skylark held out her hand to lead the way towards the group leaving with Jagna. The leopard was waiting for him in the doorway with a smile on her face.

"I take it then," he began as they walked down the corridor together, "that we're good now?"

She looked up at him and replied, "We're good."

…

……

…

"Well?" spat an angry tarantula after more pacing in his quarters. K-Scale flinched slightly.

"They're reconfiguring their security codes…" the reptilian fuzor answered.

"And?"

"And we won't know any more for another few days. They're doing it one by one and it's taking ages."

Kahn grumbled slightly, but instead of exploding in a hysterical fit like K-Scale thought he would, he shook his head and sat down.

"No matter. Gaining the Maximals' base was only an extra commodity. We have bigger things to think about," He pressed a button on the arm of his chair. He did it with a small malicious smile, as this was the very chair he managed to rebuild from salvaged material from the wreckage of his old base. Every time he sat in this chair, he thought of his old leader: now a prisoner on a far away planet, thousands of years behind him.

The button opened the door to his chamber. Camophlage had been waiting for him. She offered him a smile that he resented.

"I want you to give our friend a message," he instructed.

"Would you like it faxed or hand delivered?" she asked with a hint of anticipation.

"Give him the works…"

…

……

…

Meanwhile, back on Cybertron, barely two days had passed. Silverbolt and Blackarachnia were still waiting for word from their Predacon contact.

"I fear we may have been…unsuccessful," said Silverbolt, drooping his ears. Blackarachnia shook her head at his lack of confidence in her Predacon abilities, but she knew he was probably right. News of the beast bots had spread all over Cybertron, and apparently, 'Maximals didn't defect'. Total slag. But that was the attitude.

"When did we last hear from Optimus and the others?" Blackarachnia asked out of interest as she leaned on the window sill of their quarters.

"We didn't…" Silverbolt answered thoughtfully.

"Hm…" She didn't like the sound of that.

Suddenly, something just below their window flickered. The widow was taken aback and gasped slightly, and the next second Silverbolt was there.

"What is it my love?"

"Down there!" Blackarachnia pointed to a dark figure zipping very quickly from one side of the street to the other. After four or five zigzags it stopped. It was waiting for them.

"Come on…"

Downstairs, the couple very carefully made their way to where the figure stood as still as a statue. From its build they could tell it was female.

"We were wondering when you'd show up," the femme sneered lightly.

"Alright, whoever the slag you are, come out before I fill you so far up with venom you'll be a walking Petri dish…" Blackarachnia threatened.

"Yes, yes, very nice," the femme answered, stepping out of the shadow and into the street lamp light. She had the longest legs either of them had ever seen, and she had…six of them. Blackarachnia stared, "Although you should know you're not the only ones with fancy new gizmos at your disposal…"

The 'legs' they had seen resembled spider legs, but were made entirely of metal, and looked incredibly light and easy to use. Blackarachnia pursed her lips, muttering, "Copy cat…"

"Cool huh? Amazingly affordable prices on the black market these days. Although a little skill in blackmail here and there does come in handy once in a while," she winked at Silverbolt, and plucked one of his feathers from his wing with a mechanical claw. He growled, but did not advance.

"Fine," Blackarachnia said coldly, "now as to the 'who the slag are you'…"

"I am your new partner. Hijinx is the name, espionage is my game. Among other things I happen to be good at," she Hijinx added, staring sexily into Silverbolt's optics. He gulped.

"Hey, hey, back off," the she spider hissed menacingly, "if you're the idiot they've sent to help us, give me the return address. We don't need any help."

"Yyyyyeeeeeaaaaaahhhh…" Hijinx replied, unconvinced, "you've really enforced our opinion about your spying abilities, Maximals…"

Blackarachnia and Silverbolt simultaneously withdrew their weapons.

"How do you know we're MaxOOF!" Silverbolt was interrupted by a very sharp elbow in the gut.

"Puh-leez, don't try and cover it up," Hijinx implored lazily, "It's not like your boyfriend here can pull off anything past 'not a morning person'…"

_We'll just see about that_…said an eerie voice in Silverbolt's head. He had heard it before, but he shook it out, ignoring it completely. He didn't want his love to know there was something bothering him.

"Then why haven't you scrapped us yet?" Arachnia asked suspiciously.

"Well, surprisingly enough, you may be of some use to us…and us to you, depending on how you look at it…"

The widow paused, "…Go on…"

"Okay. Your High Council; Maximals, Predacons, Decepticons whatever, seem to be under the impression that we're up to something," Hijinx began.

"And by 'we' you mean?" Silverbolt asked.

"Ah, ah, ah, all in good time Fluffy," Hijinx replied, wagging her finger at him as if telling off a child at school, "We could actually do with your help. And by 'your' I mean you two."

"Why us?" Silverbolt asked again.

"Well, I'm kinda outta the loop on that one. Personally, I think you're overrated," Blackarachnia hissed at the remark, but the femme continued, "And before you get into the whole, 'Well why should we help you, Predacon?' thing," she said with a falsetto voice and flamboyantly exaggerated 'hero' gestures, "…You'd like to know what Megatron's been up to in his spare time, wouldn't you?"

She grinned widely, baring brilliantly white steel teeth. This was beyond serious. If this femme really knew what Megatron was up to…

"And by the way, you are to reveal none of this to your precious Ultra Magnus, or any of the High Council. Shall we?" She gestured to the floor just behind her. A panel slowly raised itself off the ground at her call.

The fuzor and Transmetal spider looked at each other.

"Lead the way…"

…

……

…

Cheetor and Greyback were in a sub chamber of Pangaea One, discussing the plans for the next few weeks. Rattrap sat idly next to them. He was only there because he was told to, for whatever reason. But he had a sneaky suspicion he wasn't going to like it.

"Now Cheetor," Greyback explained thoroughly, "as you know, Signia has finally come across what she's been looking for for quite some time now…" He brought up a hologram of the area Signia had scanned. Cheetor inspected it carefully while Greyback continued, "We've been tracking it for decades. We know it's of Maximal design, and it's been giving off the lowest frequencies at random intervals over the years. Got anything for me?" the wolf asked, hoping the cat might recognise the disfigured hunk of steel from his previous visit to Earth.

Cheetor spent a few more cycles staring at the hologram with his optics squinted. Then all of a sudden, "It's the Axalon!"

"What?!" Greyback and Rattrap chimed together. The rat jumped out of his seat and went to stand next to the cat.

"How did you get that from **that**?!" he asked. In his opinion, the object in the hologram more resembled a shrunken pumpkin with legs than any kind of spacecraft. "…'Sides, that's impossible. There wouldn't be anythin' left of it after four thousand years!"

"Well, Rhinox did often boast about it being the most endurable ship in the exploration fleet," Cheetor commented, still awed by the sight of their old ship after all this time.

"Yeah, yeah. Puh. Hard teh think we started off as explorers, huh?"

Cheetor nodded. In fact, he'd forgotten completely. Greyback inspected the hologram thoughtfully. Signia's calculations showed it was approximately 3,500 feet below sea-level in an area of relatively low drift.

"Who would you say knew your Axalon the best?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the data.

"Well, that would be Rhinox," Cheetor replied.

"Yeah, but we need him here," Greyback pondered, scratching his chin.

"Well," Cheetor began, "there's always OW!" The cat yelped at the throbbing pain in his foot. He glared at Rattrap, "Whatcha do that for?"

"Do what?" the rat answered innocently. Contrary to his intention, however, he caught Greyback's attention.

"Rattrap? How about you?" the wolf asked slyly.

"Woah, no. No way, uh-uh, forgeddit! I ain't goin' scuba divin' again for no piece o' equipment you think might be there. Get some other punk fish bot teh go!" The rat desperately waved his arms and shook his head in protest, but Greyback was having none of it.

"No, we need someone a little more familiar to the structure of the vessel to help Signia manoeuvre down there,"

"Well, then, send spots!" Rattrap yelled, pointing to Cheetor, "I mean, he ain't no engineer, but at least he can tell his skid plate from his elbow! Allegedly…" he added sneakily.

"A cat? In the ocean? He'd be like a fish out of water. Besides, I heard you've done this before,"

The Maximal lieutenant put his hand on Rattrap's shoulder and led him away. Just before he left he shot Cheetor a quick wink, and the Transmetal II feline chortled.

…

……

…

"Maximal signature approaching,"

"Scan and identify," Kahn instructed the computer.

After a few seconds the computer replied, "Identified," and brought up the schematics on the wayward trespasser.

"Ah, excellent. Our little friend has arrived right on time. The best enemy is a punctual one, I always say," Kahn rambled to Crowbeak, who gazed disapprovingly at the approaching Maximal as his leader disabled the entrance security to allow the Maximal in.

"Why do we even need this guy?" the vulture complained with his usual pursed lip, "It's not like he's a genius or anything, he doesn't even have special access to the new codes. Moron didn't even volunteer…"

"Yes, I will talk to him about that," Kahn replied darkly, "but he's still our best, and regrettably, only asset…"

Just then, the door to his chamber opened. Neither of them even bothered draw their weapons, but lazily turned around to face their visitor.

"What a coincidence! We were just talking about your brilliant contribution!" Kahn exclaimed with the most distasteful falseness, "I mean, without you, the takeover of the Pangaea bases would not have been possible…"

"Takeover nothing, we got kicked out!" Crowbeak barked. Arachnikahn slapped his forehead.

"Yes, I know, I was trying to MAKE A POINT!" the spider bellowed, and the Maximal shuddered knowing it was directed at him. Kahn arose from his chair and slowly walked over to his 'guest'. "Need I remind you of the conditions of our agreement? I mean, you know how hard it is for me to control my appetite…" he sneered nastily down at the shivering Maximal.

"Y…You…you can't…"

"Oh, but I can," Kahn corrected, "I can do anything I slagging well please." He uttered his chilling Tarantulas laugh, "And you are merely a pawn in my plan…one whose very spark now belongs to me!" He leaned over the Maximal so that he bent over backwards and fell to the floor, cowering with terror. Kahn sniggered at the pathetic display of sentimental weakness.

Crowbeak grabbed the Maximal by the throat and hoisted him four feet off the ground, his wings flapping silently but menacingly. Both he and Kahn were now smirking. Gasping for breath, the Maximal was tossed back into the doorway, where he landed at the feet of three more Predacons looming threateningly over him.

"Now get out of my sight and do your work," Kahn instructed forcefully, "my spy…"

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


	2. Great Expectations

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 17:** Great Expectations

"Why did we agree to this again?"

"Volume on mute, Bowser…"

"I refuse to go any further until you inform me of our destination!" Silverbolt howled for the fourth time in twenty minutes. He and Blackarachnia were being escorted to a 'meeting place', and were requested to shut off their optical sensors. When Silverbolt repeated it yet again their guide, Hijinx, took a heavy sigh and rolled her optics.

"Y'know, how about I just show you?" she said, her tone indicating this was as far as she would go tolerating his backseat bantering.

They activated their optical sensors and looked around them.

"…Where are we?" Blackarachnia asked, genuinely confused. To her understanding, they were being led to somewhere top secret…they appeared to be at a terminal station.

"That would defeat the whole purpose, wouldn't it?" the spider bot wannabe answered, "Ah, here's our stop…"

She looked to her right where there an oncoming train approached. An announcement on the empty platform said, 'This terminal is not in use. Please stand back from the platform edge'. Without warning, the Maximal duo felt a hard shove from behind them. They yelled as they fell in front of the fast-moving…nothing?

They found themselves in a circular room, eerily lit with red and green backlights. Getting their senses unjumbled from the fall, they picked themselves up. Out of nowhere, Hijinx landed gracefully next to them.

"What the slagging pitt was that?!" the widow demanded furiously, her pulse still racing, "You threw us in front of a moving train!"

"Hologram and teleporter. Now shut up, you're in very prestigious company."

They looked up, and three large figures sat in front of each backlight, their daunting silhouettes looming over them like statues in a graveyard.

"Welcome to the chamber of the Tripredicus Council…"

…

……

…

"Wasn't that cosy?" Hijinx said with a cheery smile at the distressed looks on the Maximals' aces as they exited the chamber via the teleporter at the terminal half a megacycle later.

"I would rather have spent my time plucking out each of my feathers," Silverbolt answered uncomfortably. The entire time, however long it had been, he felt as if he and his beloved would be exterminated on sight.

"Hardly worth our time," the spider femme snorted. The Tripredicus Council didn't intimidate her nearly as much as they did Silverbolt. They were just another three Predacons sat on big chairs, "You actually made it sound like we needed to be there. They didn't tell us squat. And you've got nothing for us!"

"We're not always the bad guys, you know," Hijinx sneered, "Turns out ours and your Council could be of use to each other. We have one common enemy."

"And that is?" Silverbolt enquired officially.

"Megatron."

"Oh," the fuzor and widow chimed together.

"Yup. You already know he's escaped. What you don't know is that he's planning to hijack another ship and return to Earth. What neither of us know is how or why…officially, at least," she added with a wink. Oh yes, the Maximals knew full well what he wanted to do.

"But wait a minute, how wouldn't that benefit you?" Blackarachnia asked suspiciously, "Why would you want to stop him?"

"Ugh, I don't know the details," Hijinx answered, waving it aside.

"Madam, I strongly suggest you answer the question," Silverbolt said sternly, taking a pace forward. The Predacon scowled.

"Hi, my name is Hijinx," she began sweetly and sarcastically, "You wanna know what else they call me? Nutcracker."

He backed off instantly, and Blackarachnia couldn't stifle a giggle.

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"We are going to join him," the femme answered simply.

"What?! Are you off your nut, even I couldn't pull that off, he knows me too well!" the spider exploded at the infinite stupidity of that plan.

"No one said we'd have to meet him. We're going to Earth to see for ourselves. And to see if we can get a little…advice…"

[i]_Optimus…_[/i] Silverbolt thought.

"He's sending a scout team tomorrow. Somehow he got a crew, but it's only small. We should have no trouble getting on board."

"You don't know Megatron," Blackarachnia warned.

"Yeah, I do. Now let's go, he's leaving in the morning…"

…

……

…

Meanwhile, back on Earth…

"No, no! The yellow one goes in the INPUT port!"

"What a pile of scrap, that doesn't even make sense! It's supposed to be the green wire."

"You spazatron, there is no green wire!"

This was what usually happened when Skylark was not around to supervise technical experiments. This one in particular involved high frequency scanning, modulate fluctuations in environment and a lot of different coloured wires. Streakhorn and Bounder were in disagreement with what went where, and had been for the past hour and a half.

"Look, we're never gonna get this done if we don't see what happens," Streakhorn rationalised, rubbing her temples.

"Yeah, you're right," Bounder began, "but are you sure there's no green wire?"

She stared at him. "You need your optics checked."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, waving that comment aside, "Well, in that case, this should connect here,"

"No, that goes into the other component, duh!"

"Actually, you're both wrong," Skylark's amused voice said from the doorway. The owl walked in with a pile of electronic notepads and spare parts, and dumped the on the table. "Honestly, I get no peace," she added, placing her hands on her hips.

"Sorry Sky. But in our defence, it's your fault," Streakhorn said defensively.

"Oh?" the flyer hooted, "How so?"

"The smarter you make yourself look, the more work you give yourself. Try to dumb down sometimes, I mean, look at Bounder,"

"Hey!" the hare retorted, insulted.

"Relax, it's a compliment," Streakhorn replied cunningly. While he tried hard to figure that one out, the gazelle resorted to ask Skylark how her doohickey worked.

After a lot of explanation, diagrams, and just doing a lot of it herself, Skylark announced the device was nearly ready. Just then, her radio beeped.

"Hm? A what? That can't…Oh…" she said, her tone shocked and serious, "Ok then, I'll be right there." She disabled her com link and turned to the device, fixed one last component to it, and, "Done. It'll be charged by morning, and then we'll send Signia out with it. Now get some rest you two, I think you need it," she added, chuckling. She left them leaning on each other's shoulders, half switched off already.

…

……

…

Ultra Magnus stood in his office at the Council headquarters, hands behind his back, gazing out of the window. Cybertron was very quiet this time of night, but the lights of New Iacon buzzed slightly in the distance.

He had been worrying all day. Actually, not worrying, pondering with great concern, over a very serious matter.

"Has he reported back yet?" he asked Diamond Nine, who sat very quietly close to him.

"No," she replied after a while. She was very good at dealing with bad situations, in her own way. She would never let the tension reach the surface, both in terms of other peoples' and her own anxieties. "No one's heard from Soundwave for over twenty megacycles."

"Hm," Ultra Magnus tapped the glass gently with his index finger, they rhythmic resonance acting as a sort of hypnotic concentration mechanism. "And there has been no sighting of Megatron at all?"

The jet femme shook her head when he looked back at her. She was sat upright with rigid shoulders and knees locked close together, staring at a spec on the wall directly in front of her.

"I don't like that coincidence," Ultra Magnus commented shortly, realising he would get nothing more from her. "And we still haven't heard from the earthbound Maximal team?"

"Jumpstart says he's been trying every hour since they passed their deadline. No joy."

That made both of them frown deeply. There was definitely a connection, but what was it? Though he hadn't known them that long, Ultra Magnus knew that Optimus and his team would not go so far over their scheduled communication without good reason. Granted, it had only been a few days, but the first transmission was always the most important. No transformer on Cybertron knew about the Maximals and Predacons fighting another war on Earth.

"It could have something to do with the time rift," Diamond commented after a little thinking. Ultra Magnus smiled for the first time in hours. She was a clever bot. She didn't get onto the High Council and become a senior member by her looks, after all. "Although we have no way of knowing without finding out for ourselves."

"What are you suggesting, Diamond Nine?" the old bot asked her, turning his full body round to face her questionably.

She shrugged. "I'm not comfortable with the way things are going on on this planet," she said morosely, "I'm not 100 percent convinced we know who we can trust…"

"I see the point you're trying to make, Diamond," he answered with a disheartened sigh, "I don't like to think about it that much, but I have a feeling there's something going on that even we don't know about."

"What, you mean we're outta the loop for once? Naaah," she said with a wry smile, trying to lighten the mood. They both chuckled.

"But perhaps you should," she continued, "after all, at least one of us should check it out, and I think you'd rather it was one of us, if I may be so bold…"

"You may be so bold," he replied, smiling at her inability to give herself credit, "I think you're right. Have you had a chance to look over the recruits?"

She winced slightly. "I have. But…there's this one kid…I dunno, there's something about him that I find…"

"Suspicious?" he pre-empted.

"Pretentious. Obnoxious," she corrected, looking as though she had just tasted something sour. "Kid's gotta real attitude. Why is he even on the force? If he was under my direct command, he'd know a thing or two about discipline and basic common sense about speaking back to a superior officer."

"I don't doubt that. But that's Claymor's lot. And apparently he's particularly fond of that boy, so I'm afraid we have no say."

She shrugged. "Fair enough. Other than that, they're good bunch. And they'll need experience, so this would be an ample opportunity for them.

"Very well." Ultra Magnus cricked his neck and went into 'official mode'. Get them ready. We depart for Earth tomorrow."

…

……

…

"Oi! You lot! Will you shut up please? Hello! I'm talking to you!"

Inside one of the training vicinities outside of New Iacon, a femme bot was trying to get the attention of some other recruits, rather much younger than herself. It wasn't working. The recruits were either deliberately not listening to her or concentration so hard on working to impress their superiors to notice. The group consisted of both Maximal and Predacon recruits, and all quite young, but old enough to even be considered for anything to do with the High Council. The femme, who was the oldest by far, huffed, and banged her fist loudly on a hollow metal tube, sending painful vibrations throughout the room.

"Yeesh, there's no need to shout, lady…" one young mech sneered. He was the ill-favoured bot that Diamond Nine had mentioned earlier.

"I was listening, Bee," a white and blue femme said sweetly to the other femme, holding her hands innocently behind her back, with a wide cheery smile on her face.

"Yes, yes, very nice, Nyx," Bee answered. She was a colourful bot, with sea green optics. She spoke with an 'English' accent, not unlike Signia's or Jagna's, as did the femme she just referred to as Nyx. "Right everyone, now that I've got your attention. I've just heard from Claymor…and we are a go!"

There was a cheer in the room.

"Seriously? We're actually going?"

"Awesome!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yup," Bee answered, "We're leaving tomorrow, so let's get ready, kay?"

"Woah, woah, why should we listen to you?" the obnoxious mech asked in a whiny voice, "What are we, your little soldiers, or something?

"Easy, cadet," Ultra Magnus said sternly as he walked in the room. The young bots in the chamber gasped. They had never met Ultra Magnus before. They all saluted him eagerly, but he kept his eye on the troublemaker. "And for the record, you're all [b]**my**[/b] little soldiers now, as I'm sure you're now aware. And she's right, we leave tomorrow. I expect you all to be ready in 7 megacycles."

"Yes sir, Ultra Magnus, sir!" Everyone chimed. At that, he left. There was an excited buzz that filled the recruits' chamber. Even the obnoxious mech, whom the others referred to as NS, showed a little enthusiasm.

"So, what was the planet again?"

"Earth."

…

……

…

The next morning, Ultra Magnus' earthbound ship, 'Star Trail', departed from Cybertropolis space port. There was no farewell ceremony, just the crew and it's captain shipping off like a regular mission. Only it wasn't so regular.

In the darkness of the cargo decks of the space port loomed an ominous figure. It lingered outside the entrance to a much smaller ship than Ultra Magnus', but it would do.

It finally entered it's vessel, and Silverbolt, Blackarachnia and Hijinx saw their chance.

"Right, this'll be a snap," said Hijinx with overflowing confidence, "Once we're close enough to Earth we can eject in an escape pod at full velocity. If we're still in the Transwarp tunnel, that should accelerate us fast enough to reach the planet before him."

"Oh yeah, easy," Blackarachnia jeered sarcastically. Megatron was many things, but not a fool.

"And how can we assure our escape in these pods?" Silverbolt asked. He was uneasy about the whole thing, and the widow understood why. Not that she paid any attention to it, she was a Predacon and was used to dealing with Predacons in the non-confrontational way as well.

"Come on, on three," Hijinx instructed, "One…three!" And she was off.

"Hey!" The pair followed close behind her, skulking behind crates and cranes until they were on board the ship. Minutes later, as they found a supply closet to hide in, the ship conspicuously took off, off the radar, unknown to the citizens below.

"Well that was slick, I must say," boasted Hijinx.

"More slippery, actually." There was a bang at the door as it was shot open. The owner of the voice stepped through, gun aimed at the three bilge rats.

"Flux to bridge. We have company…"

Not long afterwards, Silverbolt, Blackarachnia and Hijinx were thrown onto their knees in the control centre of the small ship. It was very dimly lit, but they could see it only had five occupants. One was Flux, the mech who apprehended them, another mech standing behind them and keeping a close eye on them, a femmebot sat at a console, and their captain, who stood in a conveniently dark part of the bridge.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Stowaways? How delightful, yessss…"

They'd recognise that catchphrase anywhere.

"Megatron!" they gasped.

"So you **[b]do**[/b] remember me?" Megatron asked with false delight, "My, my, I was beginning to think our little sessions in the stockade were all for nought."

"You didn't say anything about running into cherry lips himself!" Blackarachnia snarled at the femme.

"Hey, I was told he was only sending a team, I didn't know he was actually going!" she answered defensively.

"What do you want?" Blackarachnia asked Megatron with a significant amount of disgust.

"Same as you. I'd like to find our old friends, the Optimuses, of course,"

"Wait…what?" the widow asked, very confused. Did he say Optimuses as in plural?

"Ah, yes, I thought we'd come to that little detail eventually…"

"Just get on with it!" shouted the other voice from within Megatron. Blackarachnia and Silverbolt gaped at each other.

"Ahem, yes," Megatron said, clearing his throat, "My dearest Maximal friends and traitors, allow me to introduce you to the greatest Decepticon leader, and coincidentally my namesake…Megatron!"

The optics of the Megatron they were looking at suddenly glowed yellow, dimmed, and a new smug face appeared. Though it was definitely dragon Megatron's features, someone else's spark essence was present.

"So these are the great Maximal heroes?" he said, his voice hoarse. Blackarachnia recognised it straight away as the voice in the message on the Golden Disk. "Don't make me laugh!"

"And, what do [b]**you**[/b] want?" Silverbolt asked hesitantly. Technically, this was impossible, but since it was happening, both Megatrons couldn't possibly want the exact same thing…right?

"Decepticon…" the original Megatron began,

"Predacon…" the second joined in,

"…domination!" the two voices chimed together the clashing of their vocal chord echoing in the room like freshly struck cymbals.

The Maximals stared in horror at the realisation of just how deeply they were in the slag. Both Megatrons? One thing (on top of many) didn't make sense…

"But…HOW?"

"That hardly matters. Coppertop, you may release them,"

"I may what now?" Coppertop, a surprisingly skinny bot, asked.

"Release them. Unless you want to defy the orders of two commanding officers at once,"

The bot complied, though confused, and immediately Silverbolt punched him in the face and kneed him in the stomach, and Blackarachnia swiftly dealt with Flux. Hijinx was already on her way out of the chamber to the boarding platform, and the other two followed. They ran as fast as they could after her and into the escape hatch. Within minutes they ejected themselves, setting the coordinates for Earth, hoping to get there first.

"I'm assuming we're not trying to stop them? Firewire asked, the red and green femmebot asked lazily, seeing that Megatron(s) was not moving.

"Indeed not, my dear lady. Let the cards play out as they will. Yesss…"

…

……

…

30 cliks north of Pangaea Two, a small cavern was set up like a living room lounge. Granted, the 'furniture' was made of limestone granite, but the setup was clearly not natural, set up to look like sofas and tables. Occupying these makeshift amenities were several Transformers, laughing at whatever conversation they were having. Clearly this cavern was a safe house, secluded and unknown to the war.

Slapstix, the arctic patroller, was splashing happily away in a rock pool lined with limestone, which made it a nice, cool spot for any water creature to relax in. Sitting next to the pool, heartily laughing at seal's jokes, was a mare with a maple brown coat, a light chestnut mane and muzzle, and a small patch of white fur in the shape of a star on her forehead. Whenever she could get a word in, she would jokily complain that her companion's splashing was getting her mane wet.

"Gimme a break, Saddleback," Slapstix groaned at her, "how many times do I get to splash someone who isn't already wet?"

Saddleback giggled lightly, "I suppose,"

Slapstix suddenly tilted his head in curiosity, "Y'know, it's kinda weird hearing you talk. You never say a word out in the field,"

The mare shrugged, "Why would I need to? If we're fighting a war I don't see where small talk would fit in,"

"Heah heah," Slapstix replied, unconvinced, "I mean in general. I think I'm the only one who knows you have a functioning voice box. Well, okay, maybe not the [b]**only**[/b] one…" His tone shifted from bored to teasing in less than a nanosecond. Saddleback blushed. "So how are things between you and Dragonstail, while we're on that subject?" he continued cheekily.

"Still going strong," she replied, blushing more fiercely, "I still can't get used to the idea…"

"Uh, it's been a decade," the seal replied blandly, "you're practically married,"

The mare's tail flicked and her eyes widened, "Well, I uh, um…" she cleared her throat and pretended to notice something on the ceiling. Slapstix found this highly amusing, but left it at that. He'd had his fun. He clambered out of the pool and clumsily made his way towards the 'sofa', where Whitefang (an arctic wolf femme) sat curled up at Snowhunter's feet.

Suddenly, a loud and hurried pattering of paws made itself known. Quickstep, a meerkat femme, darted into the room, moving so fast she crashed into Slapstix. Of course, he thought it was hilarious, and could not suppress his laughter as he helped her up.

"Where's the fire? Ha!" he laughed at his own joke, for even if no one else did, he knew at least he would appreciate them. This one tickled him in particular, because Pangaea One was inside a volcano. "Man, I'm on fire today…HA!" He immediately forgot about the panicked Quickstep and bent over double, clutching his sides. The meerkat slapped him across the back of the head.

"What was that for?" he asked like an injured child, as if he had done nothing.

"Stop laughing! This is serious!" she turned to the rest of them small group, whose attention she now had, "I just overheard Brush and Steelclaw. They were talking about our new security codes…"

"Wait," Whitefang interrupted suspiciously, "how could they possibly know about them? They were only issued three days ago…"

"Yeah, we haven't even finished dishing them out yet," Snowhunter concurred, his thick white fur rising.

"That's the thing…" Quickstep answered breathlessly, "…I may be jumping to conclusions here guys, but I think we have a spy…"

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


	3. A Fatal Blow

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 18:** A Fatal Blow

Megatron sat smugly in his shabby new ship. True, it wasn't up to the standards of the last ship he stole, but he had a feeling that it was irrelevant.

"Status report," he announced lazily as if he was actually interested.

"We've lost sight of the escape pod you let go," Firewire answered snidely, "drifting speed is 15,000 parsecs until we reach the atmosphere. ETA is three days."

"And the pod?"

"Longer. They don't have propulsion systems sufficient enough to get them there any sooner."

"Excellent," Megatron smiled, lingering on the 't' with his thoughts. He began drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair.

Coppertop tentatively made his way to his leader…or leaders…the whole situation was very confusing.

"Um, Megatron?...Sirs?" he asked quietly. When the dragon didn't respond, he figured he was allowed to continue, "Might I suggest blasting those saurians to kingdom come? I mean, they're no threat but they'd get in the way a bit, dontcha think?"

He braced himself, but he had no need. Megatron laughed, but it was the original Megatron that was laughing with yellow optics.

"They are of little importance. Two Maximals can hardly tip the balance, least of all those two and their Predacon traitor. It would be a waste of firepower…"

"And we will need it," the other Megatron continued, his optics fading back into red, "If there is one thing us Megatrons have learned it is to never underestimate an Optimus. Least of all this one…" His optics narrowed as he pondered about his old nemesis. "We will have to play our cards very carefully…Yesss…"

He leaned forward and stroked his chin. Then he noticed Coppertop was still staring at him.

"Leave now," he ordered abruptly, and the mech darted off as fast as he could.

Flux was growing ever impatient. He had first met Megatron (the second Megatron) before he stole the Golden Disk and hijacked the Darksyde. In fact, he was an associate of Megatron's; he was the one who organised the distraction of the Maximal guards at the facility that exhibited the Golden Disk. But he was left behind, and his resentment towards Megatron was apparent. He would curse him under his breath every time he heard his voice. But he had agreed to accompany the megalomaniac on this mission as 'an apology'. Total slag, but he saw the benefits that could be reaped from being in the high ranks of the world domination society.

"The plan is flawed Megatron," he announced dryly, his eyes fixed on the scattered rocks of the rings of a large gas giant on the monitor. "Even if it isn't, you are. Having two souls in one vessel will compromise your judgement."

Megatron merely laughed. He was used to this sort of interjection from Flux. "Perhaps. And perhaps there are a few tiny little things I may have neglected to mention…"

"Like…?"

Megatron's optics flickered to yellow, and the old Megatron spoke. "Like my unyielding desire to throw you into a compactor lest you cease your infernal yammering!"

Unphased, Flux sighed. Neither Megatrons threatened him in the slightest, least of all their pathetic attempt at coercion. _Carry on with your own agenda, Megatron. So long as it suits the rest of us…_

"Initiating sleep mode," Skidds announced, dimming the lights in the command centre, "we'll be drifting silently for a few hours."

Megatron(s) smiled. "Here I come, old friend," they chimed in unison.

…

……

…

"Ready to go, Rattrap?"

"No."

"Don't worry. I'm sure that one day you'll be a real buoy! HahaHA!"

"Eh heh, go curl up in yer shell, hard head,"

Shellshock continued to tease Rattrap about his upcoming mission. As expected (to many people's delight), he was not looking forward to returning underwater.

"'Ey, how come you ain't goin'?" the rat asked Shellshock, who relentlessly chuckled at any opportunity, "You got that shell, ain'tcha?"

"Well," the tortoise answered with a smug swagger, "if you need me there to hold your hand and keep you warm, I could always go with." His smile grew wider as Rattrap scowled deeply.

"Actually Shellshock, that's exactly what you'll be doing," said a voice behind them.

"Say what?!" the reptile swung around to face Skylark.

"Jag's just asked me to tell you. The component Signia will be using is quite big, and because of pressure at that depth, it'll be hard to install."

"…And?" he asked, dread laced in his vocal tones.

"…And," Skylark continued, wondering why he even asked, "we need someone to install it before Rattrap can even enter the wreckage."

"Ha!" Rattrap gloated with a grin as wide as Shellshock's used to be.

"Okay, but…why me?" Shellshock asked again, still deflated.

"Well," Skylark answered, "you've got the physical strength to hold the floating parts underwater during installation…" she turned to leave the room, but before she did she turned back to them and said, with a cheeky smile, "…and then there's that shell of yours." Just as the pair started to leave, Skylark added, "Oh, by the way, we'll have a unit on standby for your protection."

"Who?" Rattrap asked.

"You'll find out," Skylark answered with an amused smile.

…

……

…

"K-SCALE!"

The canine/croc fuzor winced as his bellowed name echoed throughout the base. Begrudgingly, he made his way to the bridge.

"Yes?" he asked reluctantly.

"Proceed to your duty grounds," Kahn instructed quickly, "and give him his instructions."

"What?" the reptilian canine complained, "My shift's not for another four megacycles! …And he creeps me out…"

"When did I ever give you the impression I care?" Kahn answered meanly, "Now get moving at once!" He fired a venom charge at K-Scale's feet, and the fuzor was off like a shot immediately.

"Aquabots…" the spider muttered shaking his head, staring back at the small piece that he salvaged…of Sentinel.

"Attention;" said the familiar voice of the rescued Predacon computer voice, "Anomaly detected approaching Solar system."

Kahn dropped the rusted old piece of the Maximal defence system and darted over to the control panel.

"Is it…?" he began eagerly, leaning in so close to the screen that he was almost kissing it, "Scan anomaly!" he ordered ferociously.

"Unable to comply," the computer replied.

"What! Why?!" the spider demanded angrily.

"Unable to comply," the computer repeated monotonously.

"Fine," Kahn grumbled. He folded his arms, slouched back in his seat and pouted. "Maintain tracking of the anomaly. I will have to be very careful…"

…

……

…

"So Shellhead," Rattrap asked as casually as he could as the pair strolled closer and closer to the seashore north of the base, "who's our bodyguard gonna be?"

The tortoise shook his head with a bemused smile. "You'll meet her soon enough," Rattrap's head twitched when he heard Shellshock snort.

"What?" the Transmetal demanded hurriedly, "What, what, what's wrong with 'er?"

"Wrong? Nothing wrong with her," Shellshock answered complacently with yet another grin, "She just…doesn't like strangers much. But hey, don't worry, she likes me…at least I think she likes me…" He suddenly looked slightly worried, which didn't help Rattrap at all.

Within two megacycles, they arrived at a pebble beach, the waves gently stroking the shore as the sun glistened on the surface of the water. It was serene, peaceful, almost pleasant…then they heard a low and daunting rumble.

"Woah, what the photon was that?"

Rattrap looked out at the water, and noticed that just off the horizon the surface was rippling. Against better judgement, he stepped closer to the sloshing waves. He could see something just below the surface.

Before he could turn around and tell Shellshock to "RUN!", a set of enormous teeth gnashed onto his left leg and hoisted him 20 feet into the air.

"AAAAAGH!!!"

He felt himself being swung around in the jaws of a giant newt or something. Its teeth bared down on his leg like a two tonne force clamp, and he was getting dizzy.

"Hey! HEY!" Shellshock waved his arms and shouted as loud as he could to get the beast's attention. "Easy there, he's with me!"

The swinging stopped as the colossal reptile considered him for a moment. It then spat out the metallic rodent, and he landed in a crumpled heap amongst the many large pebbles of the beach. Shellshock walked over and crouched down next to him, bearing an amused smile. Rattrap pulled his face out of the rocks and muttered, "Yer kiddin' right?"

Behind him, the large beast lowered its head to Rattrap's level. It sniffed, and all of a sudden a deep, female voice with a strong accent said, "Och, you must be joking! **This** is who I'm s'posed to be protecting? Shellshock, I'ma gonna have the entire Predacon fleet on mah tail for this fishbait!"

"Hey! Who you callin' fishbait, blubber but?" Rattrap protested with a scorning finger, forgetting the size and strength of the femme.

The large beast narrowed her enormous amber eyes and craned her neck so that Rattrap was right next to her snout. "What did you call me, laddie?" she whispered dangerously.

"Me?" Rattrap asked innocently, taking several large paces backwards, "I didn't say nuttin'…"

"Careful there, shortie. I've shed scales bigger than you…"

"Yeah, why don't that surprise me?" Rattrap mumbled in his characteristic sardonic tone.

Shellshock stepped in to intervene before things went any further, "Nessie, listen, we're going to need to get to the site pronto, so, uh…"

"Aye, I know," the creature, Nessie, replied begrudgingly, finally taking her eyes off Rattrap, "How does this one feel about a little boat trip?"

"A little what now?" Rattrap spun around hastily.

"Get on me back, the pair o' ya. I've not got all day…"

She submerged for a few seconds, and reappeared facing the other way, placing the tip of her tail on the bank as a sort of ramp. Shellshock sighed and reluctantly got on board after he grabbed Rattrap, who had begun to walk the other way.

As soon as they were both on her back, but neither seated nor stable, Nessie swept her powerful fins through the water, making her passengers lose their balance and topple over. Once he could tell up from down again, Rattrap could take in that, despite the fact she was a rampaging monster of the sea, she was actually a mistress of the waves. Each stroke was flawless and seemed to thrust them a league per second. He looked over at Shellshock, who did not seem to be enjoying the ride.

"Where's yer water wings Shelly?" the rat questioned jollily.

"I'm a land tortoise," Shellshock replied, grabbing hold of a few scales tightly, "this isn't natural…"

…

……

…

30 klicks north of Pangaea Two, the small 'lounge' cavern was still occupied by the same Maximals as the day before.

They had not left, given the seriousness of the potential situation.

"I swear I'm not making this up, you guys…" Quickstep had argued feverishly. She had been on her toes practically all night trying to justify her notion.

At first the others merely shrugged it off.

"Now now, Quickstep, there's no need to get everyone's tail in a knot," Snowhunter had calmly stated, "you're just being over cautious as usual."

True, Quickstep was considered to be rather paranoid. She was not the best choice for lookout scout, because she saw any small movement as potential danger, running back to the others and worrying them often for nothing.

The meerkat protested furiously, pleading with the others to see things how she did. Whitefang seemed to be the only one to listen at first.

Quickstep, after calming herself down by pacing slowly across the limestone floor, began to explain what she heard.

On her sunset savannah patrol, after much darting in between and behind rocks, she spotted two Predacons in beast mode. It was Steelclaw and Brush, the Predacon's own desert patroller. Before she had the chance to call for back-up, she heard Brush say,

"Yeah, they've issued half of their new codes. We won't know what they are till a few days from now. Heh. So much for that plan…" His voice carried a sneer, and his hollow breathing made him sound like he was always gasping for air. His vocal chords had been irreparably damaged in battle once, and so whenever he spoke it sounded like he was laughing. Which he loathed.

"Youda thunk tha idiot woulda jumped right in, wouldn't cha?" Steelclaw replied, scratching a large rock with his claws, "I would say the boss has made himself clear enough, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah. Anyway, I've been told to keep an ear out for that Intel. I've been told we should have access to the Maximal's new codes within the week."

The pair laughed maliciously together, and Quickstep had run before she was spotted. She ran as fast as she could to the nearest outpost.

When she had finally finished her story the others seemed a little more convinced. Saddleback and Slapstix glanced at each other every now and again. It couldn't be possible, could it? Quickstep, exhausted after all that talking, slumped down next to Snowhunter, who placed his arm around her comfortingly.

"That's quite a bit to take it, kid." His soft voiced soothed her nerves somewhat.

Whitefang had progressively slinked away to the mouth of the cave, staring out onto the plain. Though the possibility was unwelcome, she had listened to Quickstep thoroughly, and took it very seriously.

"We'd better keep this to ourselves," she stated after long and hard contemplation.

"What?!" Quickstep jumped out of her seat, "But, if there's a spy…"

"IF there's a spy, we wouldn't want to let on we know about it. And it's a very big 'if' young lady," the wolf added sternly. "We don't want to cause any unnecessary panic, and I'm sorry, but you haven't got the best track record for reliability…"

The meerkat hung her head, and Whitefang continued, "It was only one conversation, and those two Predacons could have been talking about anyone. It could just be a communications hack," she started to think out loud to herself while the others watched her, glancing at each other now and again, unsure of what to add. "I'll go to Jagna with this," she announced with an authoritative tenor, bushing her chest fur out, "but you can only tell her what you've told us Quickstep, and only that. Alright?"

After a few seconds, Quickstep nodded. "Okay, let's go…"

Once they had left, Saddleback shook her mane. "I don't think so. Nah, I don't think so…"

"Careful, mare, you don't want to strain your non-brain," Slapstix joked, but not in his usual fun-time manner.

"I just don't think it's possible that any one of us could be a traitor," she answered, her voice slightly high. Snowhunter came over and stroked her neck assuringly.

"I guess we'll see," he said gently, looking at the two of them. "In the meantime, we''ll do as Whitefang says and keep it to ourselves…for now. But keep your optics open. For anything. This could be a Predacon joke."

"I hope so…"

…

……

…

Elsewhere, Pteradonna was circling the perimeters of the Predacon base. She was alone for the first time in a long time, and she seemed grateful. She often grew weary of having Khronus glued to her hip day and night just because they were both good fliers.

As she swooped over the lave pits to the far east of the perimeter, she spotted something moving behind a pile of blown-apart rocks. Thinking it could be an enemy scout, she Terrorised and silently ascended for a closer look, readying her plasma canon.

The closer she got, however, she started to hear voices. She was slightly disappointed when she recognised them as two of her comrades. She was about to fly off when something caught her attention.

"It won't be long now, and this charade will finally be over," she heard Gammatron (the resident komodo dragon) huff exasperatedly.

"I still think this will end very badly for all of us…" answered Antiquitora. Her eagle feathers rustled and her lion tail twitched.

"If all goes to plan, we will be rid of that wretched lunatic for good. Both of us."

"Hmph. Both of **you**," the griffin responded heftily. Pteradonna squinted confusedly, wondering what that could mean.

"Let's get back inside. There are still some things I need to tend you," Gammatron stated lazily, "and you had better remember to keep that beak of your firmly clamped, fuzor."

The pair of them came out from behind the rocks, and Donna had just managed to fly off beforehand. Once about twenty metres in the air, she looked down and saw Gammatron staring up at her. They did not break eye contact for a good minute, but then he smiled up at her. Her spine started to tingle, and she froze. She didn't even notice he had gone by the time her mind wandered back into reality. She shook her head, reported to base that her shift was over, and flew back inside.

Feverishly searching, she ended up in one of the secondary control chambers. She found who she was looking for, grabbed his shoulder and flung him around to face her.

"Gahh!" Khronus screamed in surprise. He had been in recharge when he should have been watching the monitors. "Oh, it's you…" he sneered once he recognised her face. Had she come to tell him off for being asleep or what?

"I just heard the weirdest thing…" she began quietly. Leaning in close to him. He leant further back in retaliation. He did not like being so close to her.

"So?" he demanded, still in the process of waking up, "What do you want me to do about it?"

"Just listen!" she scoffed, tightening her grip on his shoulder, "I was out on patrol and I overheard Gammatron and 'Tora…" She looked over both shoulders, then leaned in closer still, "I think they might be planning a takeover…"

He started at her blankly for a while, then exploded in a fit of laughter.

"A takeover? Puh-leez, that scaly knucklehead couldn't take over an army of butterflies!" he laughed loudly.

"SHH!" the pterodactyl warned hurriedly, "Not so loud!"

"Donna, I think you've been spending too much time at high altitude…" began Khronus.

"Thing is, he wasn't even trying to hide it. He saw me there, and he didn't do a thing. Not even a blink!" she stammered, attempting to convince him.

Khronus merely huffed and replied, "You just want any excuse to leave your patrol. Now get outta here. I'd like a break from your company every once in a while," he added snidely, pushing her away with his index finger. She scowled at him and turned on her heel. Transforming into beast mode, she 'accidentally' thwacked him in the face as she took off. The eagle mech muttered to himself. "Women…"

…

……

…

Shellshock remained very quiet the duration of the journey. At first, Rattrap thought it was the lack of water wings, but after a while it became apparent what was on his mind…

"Hey Rattrap, I've been meaning to ask you something," he began slowly, keeping his optics fixed on a patch of blue green scales on Nessie's back.

"Yeah?" the rat responded non-expectantly, raising an eyebrow ridge.

"Nobody's said anything about for a while," he continued, slowly mincing together his thoughts into comprehensible sentences, "do you ever think back to when we were Preds?"

Rattrap said nothing. A heavy sigh left Shell's lips, berating himself for even bringing it up.

"Yeah, I do." Rattrap's answer pierced the silence.

"And?"

Shaking his head, Rattrap said, "I try not teh think about it. Every time I do I wanna shoot myself, like I would do any Pred. But I just can't get that satisfaction no more, coz the rat's gone…no pun intended…" His fists slowly clenched. Shellshock knew the Iniquities had affected all of them, especially those who had been possessed, but he didn't know how. Particularly not Rattrap. That bot was hard to read at the best of times.

"We can't change what's happened…" said Shellshock sombrely, looking out at sea. Rattrap joined his gaze.

"An' we can't ever forget…"

The pair of them remained silent, staring deeply out to the horizon, lost in their thoughts…

…Until a very loud snort erupted from beneath the waves.

"Och! I canae get any peace!" Nessie shouted, lifting her head up from underwater. "Pipe doon, the pair o' ya! Cor, never have I heard such whining!"

"Excuse me?!" Rattrap exploded, shooting upwards into a defensive standing stance, digging his feet into her back.

"Look, I've heard plenty aboot this Iniquity nonsense," Nessie continued, not in a retaliatory fashion but more in a diplomatic, matter-of-fact tone, "an' yeh've all got a stop feelin' sorry fer yerselves. Yeh had no choice, yeh could nae stop 'em, so what's the harm? Honestly, back in my day, we would nae 'ave put up with this self-pitying hoo-ha!" Her head submerged once again, and that was the end of it.

Her two passengers stared at the rippled under which her face had disappeared, then stared at each other. And laughed.

"I didn't understand a word of that, but she's totally right!" Shellshock said between laughs.

Rattrap nodded and laughed with him. "Yeah, whadda bunch o' rusty nuts, huh?"

Their mood definitely improved after that, and ten cycles later Nessie suddenly halted.

"Here we are. Signia will be coming up soon. Noo get off me…" She arched her spine so that they slid off her back and into the choppy water of the open ocean. They only just had time to put on their underwater apparatus, similar to the one Optimus ad used a while back, only smaller. Once they were treading at a steady pace, they managed to withdraw the equipment from Shellshock's subspace. He wasn't looking very comfortable at all.

They didn't even notice that Nessie had begun to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Rattrap called rather desperately as she sunk further beneath the waves.

"Don't worry," Shellshock affirmed as nonchalantly as he could manage, "Sig will be here soon. Besides, Nessie's going to be patrolling. So no need to worry…"

_No need to worry?_ thought Rattrap. The very act that a creature as nig as Nessie needed to patrol at all was worry enough. And this coming from a bot who sounded about as sure as himself as an antelope stood next to a pride of hungry lions at lunchtime.

A few minutes later, Rattrap yelped when he felt something smooth and leathery brush up alongside him.

"Sorry to startle you my friends," Signia apologised when she surfaced. She was in beast mode, holding a toolbox in her mouth, "but you obviously couldn't hear me calling you."

"That's 'cause we don't speak click-and-echo," Shellshock replied jokily, though he still looked like a fish out of water, "Sorry to rush you Sig, but can we get this over with?"

"Of course." Smiled Signia, beckoning them to dive where she had just emerged.

As Shellshock went under, Rattrap tapped Signia on the dorsal fin and said sheepishly, "Listen, about the last time we met…" he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, "…you ok?"

Signia laughed lightly. "Worry not, I am fully repaired. I know full well you were not in control of yourself. And, as I hear it, after the incident is when you returned to your normal self. So I would like to think my plan to get through to you was success,"

He was taken aback at her levelheadedness. "Yeah. Heh, I guess I owe ya one…"

"Indeed." She clicked and said, "Now let us join our companion. He won't like being alone down there…"

…

……

…

Rattrap didn't like being underwater in a compact snow globe, and he liked being fully exposed in it even less. At least in Blackarachnia's sub-thingy he was dry. He and Shellshock kept very close to Signia, who had to keep slowing down for them. The pressure at that depth was intense, but the underwater apparatus compensated for that

At last they reached the site. Rattrap's spark sank a little as the familiar bulk of the Axalon's hull came into view. Thankfully, it was a bright day and the craft was well lit, so work hopefully wouldn't be too difficult.

They started work. Shellshock, being as strong as we was, held large components down and pushed them aside for the other two to get through. They entered the old command centre, which was now so covered in seaweed and algae that it looked like an underwater forest. fish of all shapes and sizes swan in and out of the nook and crannies of the Maximals' old home.

The land bots had to signal to each other to be understood, but Signia, being a water creature, could instruct tem clearly.

"Alright, we are searching for the central control spire for the defence grid. Rattrap, do you know the way?"

Did he ever. He gave her a thumbs up and pointed to a small opening just under one of the consoles. Shellshock didn't have a hope of fitting tough it, so Rattrap and Signia went on alone, agreeing to let the tortoise in another, more accessible way.

Rattrap found it difficult to manoeuvre through this tunnel now that he was surrounded by water. His limbs flailed in the wrong directions and Signia had to push him through several tight spaces. Eventually they got there; the very familiar defence centre of the old Sentinel Unit. They found a hole in the wall which was covered in debris. The beckoned Shellshock to follow their signals so that he could remove it and come in.

It was well over a megacycle later that they finally finished. They had extracted the central hub and attached it to carrying beams for when they got it back to land. Obviously, Skylark had intentions to salvage this old defence grid. Rattrap was doubtful, but with Rhinox's help they just might succeed. Not that he could have said anything about it, anyway.

Finally, they were done. At last they could leave this wreck and get back to dry land without further ado.

Wrong.

The very moment they exited the craft, two long tentacles grabbed Rattrap's legs and torso and pulled him downwards. He tried to scream, but all that came out was a stream of bubbles.

He looked below him, and a large pair of beady black eyes stared back up at him. An enormous orange and purple octopus had him in his coils, and squeezed the rodent so that his gears crushed. _Not again!_ he thought as he felt his body getting smaller.

"Octotron!" Signia yelled furiously as she dropped the hub and swan as fast as she could to Rattrap's aid. The Predacon glanced her way and, without so much as a blink, squirted her with dark, acidic ink. She coughed and spluttered, and Octotron knocked her aside with one powerful tentacle as easily as if she were a sardine.

"K-Scale said I'd have some fun!" he laughed maniacally as he followed her into more open water.

From behind him, Shellshock had managed to hold Rattrap around the chest, signal him to prepare himself, and shot his large canon at the back of the octopus' domed head. This sent him reeling, ad the pair managed to free themselves.

Spotting Signia through the dissipating cloud of ink, he waved his arms and he 'asked' her if she could do anything.

"I may end up injuring a few trout, but…" Signia Maximised and faced the large Predacon and emitted her sonic scream. It was ten times louder and more piercing than it was on land. Rattrap, Shellshock and Octotron all covered their ears painfully. Signia's palms began to glow and she clapped them together as hard as she could with the force of the water. A thunderous explosion sent enormous ripples from her hands, propelling the octopus back several leagues. On the surface, a small tidal wave appeared, making it's way out towards the ocean, dying slowly as it went.

Once it was over, Signia lay suspended in the water, in stasis lock, her energy drained. Behind her, Rattrap and Shellshock struggled with the hub. The kept making, 'hurry up!' and 'get moving!' signals to each other so vigorously that they could hardly see each other trough the bubbles they were creating. Nor did they see that Razorblade had returned.

By the time they did spot her, she was transformed and lingering dangerously close to the unconscious Signia with an evil grin on her face, baring her sharp teeth. She aimed her weapon at the dolphin's head while the other two watched in awe…but not at her…

"I doon think so…"

Nessie suddenly grabbed the fuzor by the tail and dragged her away, rippling the current and sending the rest of them flying uncontrollably through the water. Getting his bearings, Rattrap caught Signia before she slammed into a rock turret. He gestured to Shellshock to take the hub and head skywards while he took Signia.

Soon, they resurfaced, ripping off their apparatus and gasping for air.

"I hate swimmin'!" chocked Rattrap angrily, struggling to stay afloat with Signia over his shoulder.

"Where's Nessie?" Shellshock asked, frantically looking below his kicking legs for the reptilian. As if in response, Razorblade seemed to fly over them, screaming. Off in the distance Nessie, in robot mode, had flung the fuzor with all her might, sending her skimming painfully across the surface.

She swam over to them, and said, "Time t'be goon, I think." The others nodded, and she added, as a light hearted joke, "Care tah share Razorblade's transportation choice?" to which Rattrap and Shellshock pleaded against, much to her amusement. At that point, Signia stirred and asked what had happened.

"Well, fins," Rattrap explained as he and Shellshock helped her onto Nessie's back, "let's just say I owe ya two now."

…

……

…

It had been several hours since the seabound party had returned with what was left of the Sentinel hub. Rattrap and Shellshock had retired to their chambers, exhausted and in need of drying out. Nessie remained at her ocean post and Signia returned to her regular patrol (after some much needed rest and tuna).

In one of Pangaea One's lab chambers, a very excited Skylark and Rhinox inspected the old hub with aching concentration, trying to figure out how best t salvage it…if at all. It would be a shame if they couldn't get at least something out of it after the others' hard work.

"Well?" Skylark asked for maybe the fourth time, having been staring at the same component for the last half hour.

"Too early to say," Rhinox answered, his head bent over the rusty old console which was attached to another part salvaged from the Axalon, "it's hard to do anything with this glorified typewriter."

"Hey!" Skylark interjected, "I worked hard to get that to work from nothing!" Her tone suggested great offence and her feathers started to ruffle.

"I'm not saying you didn't do a good job," the rhino answered quickly, sensing this, "but this thing has often been the source of…trouble…"

"Oh…" a deflated Skylark replied, flattening her feathers. She slowly moved in closer to see what he was doing, and quickly recoiled when he slammed his fists on the keyboard.

"Darn thing…" he muttered, scratching his chin. Skylark bent on her knees to get an even closer look to see what he had done.

"Oh, I get what you were trying to do," she said, her curiosity escalating, "but look here, the In port isn't compatible with the drive right here," She pointed to the rusted Sentinal A unit, but Rhinox shook his head.

"No, it should be, I compensated for rust…"

"Oh yeah…" she took out her 'glasses' and placed them carefully in front of her optics. "But then, whenever I try to interface anything I find I've always had this slagging problem," she added frustratedly as she inspected the console closer.

Rhinox had a very sudden thought. He tapped Skylark on the shoulder and said, "If we rerouted the primary circuitry to match the polarization…" he began, and the owl's face lit up.

"…Which will have changed due to fluctuating polarity!" She gasped excitedly and immediately got her tools out. She and Rhinox both tentatively pulled the unit back out of the console and laid it on the floor. For four painstaking minutes they cut and reconnected wires and replaced rusted plates.

At last, they had achieved their target. They stood up, and Rhinox slid he unit into its slot on the console. At first, nothing happened. Not a beep. Just as they were about to give up once and for all, the hologram cell began to whirr. It projected several green lines and suddenly came to life with a 3D outline of the entire mountain and its caverns, then it extended to the surrounding area.

They stood there, mouths agape.

All of a sudden Skylark squealed, "AAH! That's it! That's it, Rhinox, we did it! Oh my…I can't...we just…" she stammered uncontrollably with delight. She started jumping up and down, and Rhinox smiled. Combined, they had solved a problem neither of them could figure out on their own and he was quite pleased, and he watched her with admiration. Every top scientist on Cybertron didn't have the flare or passion for their entire careers as Skylark exhibited with each tiny triumph.

Once she had finished her hopping, Skylark ran over to Rhinox, threw her arms around his neck and gave him a huge kiss on the cheek.

"I need to go tell everyone!" she said of a sudden, as if the idea had just occurred to her, "This is **huge**!"

Still in a state of elation, she flew out of the chamber, leaving a stunned Rhinox to process what just happened. He slowly placed his hand on his cheek and chuckled to himself.

…

……

…

The Predacon base was eerily quite, and everyone knew the reason. After another failure against the Maximal, Kahn was sure to be in one of his foul moods. On Sub-Level 6, Khronus was mending his shoulder canon in his chamber.

"Featherless pheasant doesn't know what she's talking about," he muttered, distractedly polishing the barrel for the fourth time, "not that she ever does…"

Despite what he kept telling himself, he couldn't help but think about what Pteradonna had said. It was absurd, obviously, but there was something nagging at him like a persistent itch, but he didn't know where to scratch. He tried to shrug it off every time he thought about it, but it just kept crawling back into the forefront of his mind.

"Bah." He ruffled his feathers and cracked his neck, deciding that the barrel was shiny enough now. He reached into the toolbox next to his recharge bed and started searching for something. "Ah slag, where is it?" He fumbled around for the object, eventually kneeling down and tipping the contents onto the floor. After some fruitless searching he concluded, "Steelclaw must still have it. Ding-a-ling, wait till I get my hands on that scrawny…"

At that, he stormed out of his room and marched purposefully down the hall, bracing himself for a good telling-Steelclaw-off. As he approached the corridor the coyote's chamber was located, he heard a faint buzzing that got louder and louder as he approached. Suddenly, Xaphron came charging at him from around the corner, resulting in a head long collision that sent both of them onto the floor.

"Gah! Watch it, insect!" he scolded loudly with bared teeth. He became even more outraged when he discovered she wasn't listening to him. In fact, she was already hovering off the ground, wringing her hands and staring in the other direction. "Hey! I said watch where you're going!"

She finally turned her big insectoid eyes to stare at him. "Everyone's gone crazy…" she whispered.

"What?" he asked as he got up, brushing himself off.

"Who can we trust?!" she screamed, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him like a maraca. "You've all got **something** planned, haven't you? Why can't you people find just one evil plan and STICK TO IT?!"

He was about to shoot her when she let go just as suddenly as she had grabbed him. He watched her, mouth agape as she bounced from one wall to the other in a zigzag pattern down the way he came. He shook his head.

"Females. They've all gone mad today…"

Quickly forgetting about the rampant insect, he finally came closer to Steelclaw's chamber.

"Hey, bonehead, you hand back my sonic wrench or…"

His fist stopped before it hit the door. He could hear talking inside. Normally, this wouldn't concern him and he would barge right in, but it wasn't only Steelclaw's voice.

"What have we discussed?" said Gammatron from within the chamber. What was he doing in there?

"Nothing," Steelclaw replied in an uncharacteristically rushed and panicky tone, "we never talked, I don't even remember seeing you here."

"Good doggy," the komodo Predacon answered in his suave, calming voice. "Now, when they arrive, what will you do?"

"…Nothing…"

"And what will you say?"

"…"

"Answer me…" Gammatron growled so low that it even made the feathers on Khronus' back stand up.

"…Nothing."

WHACK!

Khronus jumped back from the door, arming his shoulder canons. The door slowly opened and Gammatron stepped through. He saw the flyer in front of him and smiled.

"Ah, my dear winged companion," raising his brow ridge with a delightfully cool smile, "Target practice?"

"Uhh…" Khronus spotted Steelclaw's limp and unconscious form on the floor behind the lizard.

"Your canons are looking nice and shiny, Khronus." Gammatron was making conversation as if they had arranged to meet for oil and cake at a picnic.

"Yeah, I was just coming for my wrench…" The bird pushed past Gammatron, pretending to ignore Steelclaw as he marched towards the table and swiped his wrench from it. Upon leaving, Gammatron held the door open for him with a pleasant, yet strangely shilling smile.

"Happy hunting," the lizard said after he had closed the door. He nodded his head to Khronus, who hesitantly nodded back, transformed into beast mode and slinked way.

Still gripping his wrench with both hands, Khronus stayed glued to the spot for several minutes.

"Pah," he eventually pulled himself together and left. His feathers were still on end.

He put the wrench in his subspace and opened a private com channel.

"Donna? It's me…"

…

……

…

On a cold night on Cybertron, a small settlement, dedicated purely to the progression of science, sat peacefully outside one of the boroughs of New Iacon.

Though the facilities' functions were blatant and profoundly obvious to the unknowing eye, beneath its foundations, top secret work was taking place.

In a laboratory seventeen floors down, three of the most esteemed scientific minds on the planet huddled around a chart.

"With this new data that our scanners have collected I believe we're very close to achieving our main objective," Cableraider, the head of research and development, said excitedly as he moved involuntarily close to the one and only female that had been in his life for the few passing months.

The said female, Flipside, squinted her tired eyes and nodded at Cableraider. She had been up for 96 megacycles compiling the information that Rhinox had supplied those three long stellar cycles ago when he and the rest of the Axalon crew came back home.

"Of course, we can only use THIS data," she joked tiredly, pointing both at the screen and her research companion, whose name happened to be…Data.

"Funny," Data replied, "You're never going to let it go, are you?"

Flipside chuckled, "Of course not! Everyone knows how much you like old Earth media! It was only a matter of time before anyone noticed that some Earth man wannabe robot impersonator shared your name! Or rather, it was only a matter of time before I told them…" she added with a gleefully evil chuckle.

Cableraider cleared his throat and gave them both a sardonic stare. He knew they had been awake for many megacycles getting these charts to the lab, but he felt as though the loss of sleep must have short-circuited the wires in their heads. However, that didn't change his feelings towards Flipside one bit. With her almost comatose, it would be easier to make his move.

"Can we get back to work please? Data, could you find me the earth media on Platypi?" Any excuse to be alone with Flipside was good enough.

Flipside leant on the table, pretending not to notice Cableraider's wandering optics. Data raised his brow ridge at the silver and brass mech.

"Actually, Mr High-and-Mighty, it's Flipside's turn to change the cells in the generator. Isn't it, partner mine?" he added with a smirk. They both hated that job. It was laborious and boring, not to mention it took forever.

"Hey, I asked you to do something sparky! Twice in a row isn't going to cause you to blow a fuse." Cableraider's voice rose to match his heightened irritation.

Data was starting to mirror Cableraider's agitation. Being cooped up in an underground shoebox may have had its perks (seldom few), but he was in no mood for delusions of grandeur from this glorified waffle iron. "How about you blow it up your tailpipe? I don't see you down here every fragging day, oh fearless leader," he mocked.

"I do my share of the work. I have to keep **you** in line. I also have to keep you from going on your little earth-media tangents, not to mention having to listen to that stutter every time you're processing data! Now do as I ask before this gets really ugly."

Flipside suddenly exploded. "Ugh! You mechs...fine, I'll go!" she cried, waving her arms in the air. "Changing the tubes is actually sounding quite pleasant at the moment..." She was unimpressed by their primitive male programming and began to storm out of the room.

Cableraider stared after her. "Now look what you did, Data. I keep telling you, never make a female do everything, it makes them irritable. Go do the thing you do best, I'll go help her…" As he started to pursue his quarry, they heard an angry voice come from the hallway outside.

"I'm perfectly capable of managing my irritation myself, THANK YOU!" Flipside shouted, her voice staying at the same volume, despite the fact she was marching quickly away.

Data smiled wryly. "Oh, do teach me your ways with women, oh ladies' bot guru," he sung mockingly.

Cableraider bestowed a scornful look upon Data and immediately set to follow the femme. "Flipside, wait up!"

He exited the doorway and took a sharp left.

"AH!"

He was greeted by a thin face with dangerously scarlet optics that pierced through his skull like a searing iron. After he finally regained his composure, he returned to 'bossy mode' and scorned, "Castron, if you don't mind, I have to be somewhere."

The mech he called Castron smiled as if in slow motion, sending shivers down Cableraider's spine. "I merely came to inform you," he said, his voice low, smooth and somewhat hypnotic, "That the DNA sequencers may not be ready in time for tomorrow's test."

"What?!" Cableraider's jaw nearly hit the ground as he himself nearly hit the ceiling. "How? Why? WHY?!"

Castron retreated a few steps to avoid the full brunt of the scientist's hysteria.

"I was told there was a problem with the calibration. Clearly, hiring volunteers for such tasks was a mistake. Whoever suggested it was clearly in a bad state when they did," he said snidely, looking down his long nose.

"Yeah, they sure were…" Cableraider shuffled his feet and coughed. He was the one who had suggested hiring rookie wannabes to perform what he thought were menial tasks. "How much of a delay?

"A day or two, at most," Castron shrugged as if it were merely a plumbing problem.

Cableraider sighed heavily. "Fine. Flipside went running down that way, go tell her. I'll inform egghead in there," he added with somewhat reluctance, jabbing his thumb at the room. If the test wasn't happening tomorrow, they might as well go home. And he decided to wait until Flipside was in a better mood with him. If anything, he wanted to make sure Data was in as bad a mood as he was in right now.

"Yes sir…" Castron hissed slimily, bowing his head ever so slightly. When Cableraider turned his back, a glint appeared in the slim mech's optics. Once he was alone in the corridor, he noticed a pair of unfamiliar optics waiting in front him. He smiled, turned and continued on his way towards Flipside, clearing a path to the lab.

Inside, Data was having a small meltdown. He spoke as fast and as jittery as a runaway train on bumpy tracks.

"Do you mean to tell me I've been slaving away in this Primus forsaken Petri dish for eight days and there's a problem that isn't my fault but I'm having to pay for it is that what you're saying if that's what you're saying I'm thinking I don't want to hear this right now I don't know why you take such pleasure in agitating me what have I ever done to you apart from do what you say despite the fact you're a narcissistic aft hole no one likes!"

Before Cableraider could angrily respond, a plasma charge hit him in the shoulder and he buckled to his knees. A second shot was fired which blew out half the lights. Instinctively, Data reached for the nearest weapon on the table three feet from him. But before his hand came near to the counter, a sword smacked his hand out of the way. He flinched a dramatic distance backwards and finally saw the attacker. He was hidden in the shadows, but Data could clearly see the pistol-like plasma canon in his left hand and a long, white steel blade in his left.

"What do you want?!"

The mystery bot, though Data couldn't see, smiled charmingly and said, as politely as if he wanted a loaf of bread, "I want me upgrades, pretty please. Else your gears end up on the wall behind you. Savvy?"

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


	4. Things Fall Apart

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 19:** Things Fall Apart

A small blip appeared briefly on the scanners on Earth before it disappeared under a cloak. A glint appeared in Megatron's eyes as he gazed upon the detestable blue and green marble that he had grown to know and resent.

"We'll be landing shortly," Flux announced, pressing a few buttons on his console.

"Excellent. Now, let us get down to business…" Megatron began with a wry smile.

But he was interrupted when, very suddenly, several loud bangs emitted from above their heads. Every unit on board stared up at the ceiling with a confused look on their face. The bangs seemed to travel from one end of the command centre to the other, occasionally pausing, and possibly wandering in a different direction.

After several minutes of banging and clanging, a shot was fired through the ceiling. Everyone covered their heads to prevent any debris to cause any damage. When they looked up, a tall, lean figure landed on the floor through the hole he had blown apart.

"Well, not much of a ship, but it's my ship now. I'm commandeering you, savvy?"

The bot stood tall and confidently, squinting through his red optics at every bot on board with a slightly crazed expression. His alt mode was not Cybertronian. In fact, he appeared to have a bird-like beast mode.

"Who are you?!" bellowed Megatron, standing his ground to confront this stranger.

"Ah, the question is mate, who am I to you. But who would you be to me, a stranger on your ship asking such a question as who am I, but what you really want to know is not the who is it of me but who are you, in terms of me, savvy?"

The bot received a full house of blank stares. He raised his hands.

"Alright, I understand this may be new to you, big strong Predacons, never seen a hijacking before. But I have a gun, and if any man has an objection to my taking over as captain, commander, whatever please you…do remember that I am in fact holding a gun."

As he spoke with barely a pause, he withdrew a pathetic looking single-fire photon pistol that ran on rechargeable energon capsules. At the conclusion of his sentence, he was smarmily waving his weapon in front of the crew…who then immediately aimed their own superior firearms at him.

"Ah…" the stowaway uttered tensely, "…this is an interesting predicament…" He smiled awkwardly and tried to cosy up to his oppressors, "Completely my fault gentlemen…oh, and lady," he added quickly when Firewire hissed at him, "very pretty…in a very scary sort of way. My kind of woman. Anyway, gentlepeoplebots, I am in fact **not** here to commandeer your ship by any means, in fact I…"

"You what?" Megatron sneered in a deadly whisper, leaning his face in closer to the amateur usurper, "By what miracle of the Matrix did your tiny little mind believe that you could outwit and overthrow the power of **two** Megatrons?"

The colour left the bot's face and his mouth opened as if to speak, but an invisible plug temporarily impaired his speech.

"Oh, this is **Megatron's** ship, is it?" he laughed jauntily, "I must be in the wrong quadrant," he said as complacently as if he had picked up the wrong parts for his hovercraft. "In which case gentlemen…and lady…" he gingerly pushed the guns pointed at him away with one finger, "I shall be heading off. Turrah. I'll be sure to stay in touch."

He attempted to tip-toe-flee to the hole he had basted in the ceiling, but Coppertop intercepted him and took him to face Megatron, who had an amused expression plastered onto his face.

"You are quite an amusement," the dragon mused, pacing around the bot in circles.

"Ah, that is very flattering your lordship, never have I heard a voice such as yours project such eloquence,"

"Ah, flattery. A common tool for the common thief." Megatron replied snidely, keeping his bemused tone. "But every thief must have a name. Well, do you?"

"Ah!" the stranger held up an interjecting finger, "There is another question in that as to identity. Can one be identified by his name, his face, or even his actions in which case I can be classified as unidentifiable. Because to attempt to identify and unidentifiable identity would be classified as madness, savvy?"

Megatron glared at him.

"Name?" he growled slowly and deadly.

"Ah, **my** name," the bot said proudly and dramatically, "is Captain Sparrow-Jack."

Megatron's mouth curved into a twisted smile. "I don't see your ship…captain," he placed a cruel emphasis on the last word.

"I'm in the market…as it were," Sparrow-Jack responded leisurely, indicating the ship that now had a large hole on one if its decks.

"And what are your intentions, dare I ask?" asked Megatron, getting more amused by this space piratical buffoon by the minute.

"General tomfoolery, piracy, pillaging, anything that involves shooting things," Sparrow-Jack answered nonchalantly, "Plus any opportunity I get to take over a ship…granted, I'm not always successful, but what defines a man other than identity than the loots under his belt?"

"Can I **please** shoot him?" Flux snarled, charging his weapon.

"Tempting, but I think he may be of some use to us," Megatron answered, though he did consider it.

"What possible use could we have for this pirate?" scorned Firewire, looking the invader up and down with a distasteful look.

"Well madam," Sparrow-Jack swaggered over to her with a wide smile, "I can think of several uses I could have for you,"

SMACK.

"…I might have deserved that…" the sparrow mumbled, rubbing his cheek.

"Yeah, well, there's a lot more you deserve for damagin' our ship!" Coppertop bellowed.

"True sir, but it is my understanding that this isn't actually your ship either, am I right?" the pirate asked cunningly, causing everyone to go silent. "Aaah. So you are, in a way, pirates yourself. Which brings us back to our identities, right? Are you, like me, an opportunistic fellow looking to strike a good deal and a good time, or possible mercenaries who are not in the wanting to being found, so their initial want is to not want to be found, eh? But what other want for wanting is there, what?"

"What?" the crew chimed together. Megatron grew ever more impatient.

"Now listen here, my good fellow," he said conversationally to Sparrow-Jack, "I will forgive this little trespass if you agree to do one thing for me…"

"I honestly will agree to whatever it is you say, oh great one. By the code, an' all…"

"Yes, yes. There is an escape vessel floating along not too far behind us. You are to 'commandeer' it, and apprehend the occupants of said vessel…Savvy?"

"And just how do you propose I do that?"

…

……

…

"You know gents, I have come to realise that my question did not need an answer!" Sparrow-Jack stammered as he was forced into an escape pod by Coppertop and Firewire.

"No need to be so afraid, my dear brooding buccaneer," the original Megatron said with his yellow optics glowing, "sure a task as simple as this will be like making a one-legged saurian walk the plank."

"Aye, true. But even that one legged saurian had to be forced on there in the first place…" the pirate replied hopelessly as he was crammed into the small space.

"How about a kiss for luck, sweetheart?" the sparrow charmingly cooed to Firewire.

"How about, instead, I give you lunch to go?"

WHACK.

"Tasty…" the pirate mumbled from behind his hand as he rubbed his nose from his farewell knuckle sandwich.

The pod door closed and made a hissing sound. The computer then announced: "Ejection in three, two, one…"

With another loud hiss and small explosion, the pod ejected from its holding and drifted out into space, awaiting its quarry.

"Can we trust him?" Flux asked lazily as he watched the small craft sail through the vacuum.

"Not at all." Megatron answered simply. "Never trust a pirate. But he who wastes not, wants not."

…

……

…

"Are you sure that's what they said?"

"Positive. I can play it back if you want, I recorded it just in case…"

"No, that won't be necessary. You can go now Quickstep. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Whitefang."

Quickstep nodded and the canine femme nodded respectfully, and both left their leader's chambers. Before the got out of the doorway, Quickstep said, "I really do hope I'm wrong…"

That conversation was still playing in her mind as Jagna read and reread Signia's report on their mission from the other day. They were ambushed at the very moment they were scheduled to finish, and at the exact location.

She called in Greyback for his opinion, and his optics remained glued to the report file as she cautiously revealed the potential situation.

"How?..." she kept saying to herself, pacing frantically in her chambers. The situation was beyond serious. The Predacons were one step ahead of them each time, but she couldn't bring herself to consider the possibility of one of her own betraying her.

Greyback, on the other hand, had his optics on everyone. His first suspicions were one of Optimus' crew, including Optimus himself. Things had gotten worse since their arrival, no one could deny that, but at the same time…he had warmed to them. Optimus seemed far too genuine to be a spy. Plus, his and his team's past with Arachnikahn was evident.

He stood in the doorway of his commander's office, watching her wear a hole in the floor.

"You know, we could be reading too deep into this," he commented lightly. She stopped and looked at him with a raised brow. He shrugged and continued, "They've infiltrated us from the outside before, Jag. He could easily do it again."

She huffed. He was right. Kahn was unbelievably smart, and was perfectly capable of subtle espionage. But something was nagging at the back of her head.

"I just can't shake the feeling," she said, continuing to pace. "It's just too perfect, isn't it? It's almost like I've debriefed him on our missions myself!"

Greyback nodded grimly. "It could be a communications hack. Now that they know where our bases are, they'd have no problem erecting a hacking tower…" He raised his shoulders defensively when she caught his eye, "Anything's possible."

She tried to consider this eventuality, but her frustration took over very quickly. She turned away, leaned against the wall and hung her head. A few seconds later she felt Greyback's arms wrap around her waist. He leaned his chin on her shoulder and nuzzled her neck.

"We'll figure this out. Okay?" he whispered reassuringly.

There was a cough from behind them. Greyback pulled away and they turned around to see Dragonstail in the doorway, cowing the floor as usual.

"Is this a bad time?" the stallion asked timidly.

"Is that a trick question?" Jagna answered with a light chuckle. "Nah, come on in, DT. What's up?"

"I, uh, just wanted to let you know I finished my scan of the northern quadrant. All clear," he answered, keeping his optics fixed firmly on the floor.

"Right," Greyback said, folding his arms trying to think, "well, that's that sector covered. You're relieved of your duties for today, Tail. Go get some rest."

"That's great. Thanks Grey, Jag…" he nodded to them. As he left, he squinted his eyes tightly shut and bit his lip. Greyback noticed this, but only briefly.

"What's with him?" he asked Jagna, who shrugged.

The minute he was outside the base, Dragonstail galloped to the other side of the mountain, out of range of cameras, and buried his face in his hands.

Slowly, after two whole cycles of heavy breathing, he withdrew a strange looking communications device. Making sure no one was around, he activated it. A hologram produced itself in front of him. The face it projected sickened him, especially when it smirked.

"Dragonstail reporting…" he said slowly and painfully, "…next mission will be announced in the morning. You'll get more info then…"

"Excellent work!" Arachnikahn's obnoxiously gleeful voice sneered through the communicator. "And might I add, you did a superb job today. I've never seen that miserable cat so gut-wrenched,"

"Yeah, I'm sure it was just dandy," Dragonstail replied resentfully, "Just remember our deal!"

The hologram of the Predacon leader smiled cruelly. "I will if you will…"

The Maximal spy huffed and quickly shut off the communicator. He resented what he was doing and had been doing for nearly two stellar cycles. His thoughts wandered back to his comrades. He was ashamed of himself for even thinking to call himself their comrade, their friend…

"Tails!"

He jumped and spun around, quickly and clumsily shoving the communicator back in his subspace.

"Oh, hi honey," he said sheepishly as Saddleback cantered jollily towards him. "What's up?"

"What's up?" the mare repeated in an offended tone when she transformed. Dragonstail raised his brow ridge, and she continued, "I haven't seen you for four days, Tails. Where've you been hiding, I've been trying to contact you…"

He stared into her big, innocent optics, trying to ignore her playfully pouting lips. "I'm so sorry, hun, I've been unbelievably…"

"Busy?" she cut in, folding her arms and shifting her weight onto her right leg, "I've been doing monitor duty all day, and your shift was only two megacycles…**this morning**…" Her suspicions were confirmed when he didn't respond. "What is going on?" she asked a little more desperately.

"I, uh…" he cowed his foot and wringed his hands. He knew it was his calling card, but he couldn't help himself. He shook his head and faced her. "How long have we been together, Saddleback? 11 stellar cycles?" She coyly smiled and nodded, and he continued, stuttering every now and then, "I know I've been a little….y'know, lately, and I uh, I have my reasons." He gazed deeply into her optics, and suddenly he forgot about everything else. He took her hands in both of his and bent onto one knee. He smiled when he saw her stunned expression, "It would honour me greatly Saddleback, if you would allow me to make up for this, for the rest of our lives…"

She said nothing, the same stunned expression fixed on her face.

"What do you say?" he asked gently, gripping her hands in his.

Her answer was simple. His audio receptors nearly ruptured as she squealed and threw her arms around him, knocking them both onto the floor. Laughing, they squeezed each other tightly, smiling from ear to ear.

"That was a yes, by the way," Saddleback giggled. Eventually they got up, still grinning. "I gotta tell Slapstix, do you mind?" Her excitement was flowing through her, and he couldn't say no to her.

"Make sure he doesn't make fun of me," he joked as she kissed him and trotted back towards the base.

As he watched her happily saunter away, his smile disappeared. He was reminded of earlier, how disgraced he felt, and despite the overwhelming joy of the last 10 cycles, he slumped back into his self berating.

"You wretched piece of slag…" he scorned himself, digging his fingers into the back of his neck. Then he whispered, with the utmost self hate, "You slagging spy…"

…

……

…

Later, the stallion was trotting along his patrol, brooding. How could he even begin to think he was worthy of her? He was a wretched traitor, se was too good and pure for him. He would have to tell her. Even if it meant she would hate him forever, he couldn't go on like this. She was his only friend…He had made a point to alienate himself from the others when he started working for Kahn against his will. But there was something about Saddleback. She was so kind to him, so understanding, that he couldn't stay away from her. Both at once he wished he had stayed well away from her, but also would never have given up their time together for anything in the universe.

As he was mulling through his head how he would tell her (there were many version, and none sounded at all good), there was strange humming sound coming from above him. At first, he disregarded it as a bird or something, but as it grew louder, he looked up, ears raised.

An enormous cloud was moving at an irregular speed towards the desert. He immediately followed it. As he galloped closer to where it disappeared over a large rock formation, he heard what sounded like a soft crash. What could it be?

A few minutes later, it was now completely dark. He arrived at the so-called crash site, but there was nothing there. He Maximised at once, bracing himself for anything…

…but he could not prepare himself for this.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" said a loud, echoing voice from behind, above and all around him. He started to panic.

"Who's there?" he demanded, drawing his gun.

"Now, now there's no need to get excited," the voice said calmly, "I merely wish to talk."

He wasn't being fooled by the friendly intentions. Something about the tone suggested otherwise.

"What do you want? Who are you?!" the stallion panicked, turning in every direction to identify where the voice was coming from.

All of a sudden a strong pair of hands grabbed his from behind and yanked them behind his back. He yelled, but another strong hand punched him hard in the stomach, winding him.

The darkness was overpowering, if only he could see his adversaries perhaps he could defend himself.

The laugh returned. But it sounded more like two voices. He looked up, gasped in horror as two burning red optics glared down at him.

"I require your services, Maximal. Yesss…"

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


	5. Still Standing Part 1

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 20:** Still Standing Part 1

On his knees, surrounded by unfamiliar Predacons, Dragonstail stared helplessly around him for an escape route. The air hung heavy and damp around him. Only one question was on his mind at that moment:

"Who are you people?" he snarled, straining under the strength of his captor's grip.

"Yesss, I suppose introductions are in order. After all, you and I are going to get to know one another very well," Megatron replied in his characteristic brawl, smiling and pressing his hands gently against each other. "I am Megatron."

Dragonstail gulped, "You're Megatron?"

"I see my reputation precedes me!" the dragon mech cheered delightfully. "And this is my merry little band. The one right behind you there is my loyal lieutenant Flux," he pointed to the mech who was holding the Maximal, "My weapons engineer, Firewire," he continued, gesturing to the only femme in the group, "and my loyal cronies, Coppertop and Skidds. Say hello, boys…"

'Hello' was translated by the boys into two large rocks at Dragonstail's head.

"All pleasantries aside, we can now talk business," Megatron continued; his smile faded and his tone deepened to a more serious resonance, "You are going to help me, Maximal. I know you are a spy…"

"How dare you…" Dragonstail began defensively and rather without conviction, but Megatron quickly interrupted him.

"I have it on very good authority, traitor." That last word pierced Dragonstail's spark like a steel bullet. "In fact, I believe you've met…**my brother**…"

The stallion looked towards where Megatron was gesturing. Out of the shadows stepped a green, scaly foot. His jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Gammatron!"

The komodo mech stared down his nose at the Maximal at his feet, helplessly staring up at him, mouth agape. Megatron smiled broadly upon his arrival.

"How good it is to see you again, dear sibling!" he exclaimed with open arms. The gesture was not received well as Gammatron's smile was wiped off his face.

"Good to see me again?" he retorted venomously. He sounded so similar to this…Megatron, Dragonstail noticed. Brothers? "Good to see me! Call yourself my brother, leaving me on this planet for a thousand stellar cycles! Don't you think I had my own plans, Megsie?"

Despite his brother's rising temper, Megatron calmly responded, with some hint of surprise, "A thousand? Surely not, Gammy, I have only been incarcerated for three…"

"Ah, yesss." Gammatron responded, laughing sarcastically, "That. Well, it seems the superior sibling made a small mis-cal-cu-la-tion…" He pierced each syllable with such ferocity one would have thought he was trying to spit them onto a canvas.

"Intriguing. So what has my dear little brother been up to all this time? Following instructions, I hope…"

"I've taken a few liberties, but yes." Gammatron suddenly reverted to diplomatic mode. Clearly, he was used to taking orders from his brother.

"Excellent. Now, to business…" he continued, turning his attention back to his captive Maximal. "I have a job for you, Maximal."

"Whatever it is, I won't do it," Dragonstail replied immediately with ferocious vigour.

"Oh yes he will. You just need to know which buttons to push," Gammatron interjected cruelly.

"No…I can't…I won't!"

"Ah, but from what I can see, you have no choice," Megatron gloated. "I may not be an expert on Maximal psychology, but the news of a spy in their midst would be most…upsetting, would it not?"

"You don't threaten me…" Dragonstail snarled, striving to release himself from his restraints. "My life's hell enough already, you'd be doing me a favour…"

Megatron laughed. "Be careful what you wish for, my sterling stallion. Flux," he called casually, and the said bot lazily meandered over to them, "kindly enlighten our guest on our 'methods of persuasion', I think he'd find it very interesting."

With a malicious grin, Flux withdrew a holoprojector from his subspace. What was he going to do with that, ram it somewhere? It hardly seemed an effective interrogation technique. But when he turned it on, his heart sank.

"Eeny, meeny, miny, mo…" chanted Flux, as he rhythmically flicked through images of every single Maximal of the Pangaea crew. He slowed down halfway through, enjoying the look of dread on the stallion's face, and finally stopped on one Maximal.

"Pretty little thing," he commented, staring carefully at the holographic image of Saddleback, "I wonder how long she would last in my company?"

A roar erupted from Dragonstail as he leapt off the ground, momentarily freeing himself from Flux's grip.

"DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"

Gammatron chuckled amusedly. "That's the exact same response we got last time."

"I do believe we have found our button," Megatron announced to his crew, who laughed. "Now then," he leaned in dangerously close to Dragonstail and growled with such malicious softness, "are we agreed?"

After what felt like an age of staring fearfully into those glaring red optics, Dragonstail bowed his head in defeat. "Good. You will stay here and await my instructions. I must brief my crew on what sort of repulsive creatures to expect on this planet…and the animals, of course…"

"Talking of which, Megatron, your crew will need beast modes," Gammatron pointed out matter-of-factly, "The energon deposits no longer effect our circuitry, as you said, but they might as well blend in."

At that, Megatron gave a smug smile. "We shan't worry about that, no. In fact, once we are ready; let them see us. I have very recently acquired some interesting new technology. Perhaps you might like an upgrade yourself, Gammy."

"Quite. This leather coat does itch something terrible."

"Yesss. By the way, I have a little something to share with you…" At the conclusion of his sentence his optics glowed and changed to yellow, and he smiled.

As they jollily made their way back into the cloaked ship, Dragonstail felt himself being plunged into an even deeper sea of regret. What could he possibly do now?

All the while, in a bush not far from the action, Xaphron was silently buzzing hysterically.

"I knew it!" she exclaimed under her breath

…

……

…

Later, at Pangaea Two (which, since the Predacon raid, had been turned into a makeshift meeting point and communications centre with all important equipment and data moved to Pangaea One), Greyback met with Whitefang, Cheetor and Rattrap.

A low groan emitted from the west end monitors.

"Is there a glitch in the engine room?" Rattrap asked, looking around. Cheetor jabbed his thumb in the Greyback's direction, from whom the noise was emanating.

The Maximal lieutenant was bent over the table, his face buried in his arms, groaning lowly and rhythmic.

"Something up, Grey?" Cheetor asked. In response, the wolf mech looked over at his female counterpart Whitefang, who kept a straight, stony face. He couldn't disperse any information.

"Ah, stuff," he replied, waving his hand. In truth, he had been listening to Slapstix all day about he did and didn't believe there was a spy. He came up with reasons that made sense…followed by follow ups that didn't. After a while Greyback had stopped listening and didn't even notice when the seal mech started discussing the size of krill in his patrol area. That discussion alone lasted well over 24 cycles.

"What I wouldn't give for a good run," Cheetor complained loudly having been staring at the same set of perimeter data for the past three hours.

"Oh, boo hoo," Rattrap sneered, "yeah, what I wouldn't give to make myself a moving target fer enemy guns!"

"Shut up Rattrap," the whole group chimed in unison.

"Now wait just a cheddar pickin' minute! How'd you two get involved in this?" Rattrap huffed at the two wolves, rather insulted.

"Never mind that," Greyback brushed it aside, leaving the Transmetal rat fuming in the corner, "I had a big argument with Jagna over this earlier…" he ignored the 'knowledgeable' 'uhhuhs' from the others (as if they could comment on his relationship), "but I think…despite my better judgement…we're going to need help from our dear old hermit."

"Our dear old what now?" Cheetor asked.

"We have a hermit?" Rattrap also asked. Whitefang, on the other hand, sighed exasperatedly.

"**Must** we?" she groaned, her body deflating like a limp balloon.

"I think so. He may be the only one who can give us enough insight into Kahn's thinking," Greyback explained, though even he clearly didn't like his own idea.

"Wait a minute, who is this guy?" Cheetor asked again.

"Yeah, and why ain't we heard of him?" Rattrap concurred.

"He's a bot we met a loooong time ago," Greyback began, casting his memories back to the day with a gigantic roll of the optics, "he seemed to know Kahn quite well, and…I dunno really. He's a nuisance…but thankfully he keeps to himself…"

"He's insane…" Whitefang concluded.

Greyback nodded. "We also need to warn the human tribes. Whitefang, you and I will take these two and…"

"Dibbs on the humans!" Whitefang volunteered instantly, shooting her arm straight up in the air. She took Greyback's defeated grunt as confirmation.

"Fine, take Rattrap. Cheetor, you're with me. As soon as Llamara and the others come to relieve us of our shift, we'll head off. Agreed?"

"Agreed," the others chorused obediently.

…

……

…

Rattrap had never met this femme before today. He knew her name well enough, and seen her in battle, but he had never spoken to her. Then again, there were more bots involved in this war than last time, so he actually had to use his brain to memorise names and faces.

She reminded him of someone, though. He couldn't put his claw on exactly who, and it was gnawing the back of his mind like a ravenous gnat. Certain nuances, the way she walked, held herself…

She seemed to be the strong, silent type, but during their meeting with Greyback and Cheetor spoke her mind with eloquence and conviction. She had a large scar on the left side of her face, staring fro above her optics and continuing almost to the corner of her lip. That alone implied she was a fighter. Of course Rattrap would be paired with the toughest Maximal on a diplomatic mission or whatnot. And why was he being thrown into all of these potentially life threatening situations all of a sudden?

"So…" he began very awkwardly after a whole 20 cycles of silence, "…you, uh, come here often?"

Her dark wolf eyes stared down at him with a slightly condescending look, glistening in the moonlight with her white fur. "I do not make it my business to interfere with human relations," she answered simply.

"Tchuh. You make it sound like they got their own society goin'…" he mumbled back.

"Do not underestimate these early humans," she snapped back, "they have evolved since you left. After all, they do grow to be the force that helps the Autobots win the Great War."

"Eh, true, but what good can they be to us now? They're still bangin' rock tegether fer bootin' up cold."

She sighed at his lack of faith. "They are intelligent creatures. They work in packs, just like wolves. Just like us, in fact," she pointed out wisely, "and such teamwork will prove invaluable one of these days."

He made a noise that was a cross between, 'I guess you're right' and 'whatever'.

"Sh!" she scolded, elbowing him hard in the ribs. A large group of humans, presumably the whole tribe, gathered before a stone podium in front of a wall decorated with human cave paintings. "We must be respectful; this is one of their celebratory rituals. They won't like it if you interrupt them."

"Yeah, like they can do any damage. What're they gonna do, stick me teh death?" Rattrap replied sarcastically, though still keeping his voice low.

"It just so happens that I approve of this sacrament," the wolf interjected defensively, "I have a great deal of respect for who they are worshiping."

"Yeah?" the rat asked, eyeing her up and down. "Why, in the name of good sweet Primus?"

She sighed, seemingly for the eighth time with him, and explained.

"From what I understand, it was stellar cycles ago, so long in act that it is only the memory of a memory passed down through the generation into this legend. It's in their cave paintings," she pointed to the wall behind the human leader, "of a time when their tribe was under threat by savage beings from above. They were defenceless, helpless, and unable to save themselves.

"Until, from the same sky, another of these creatures came to their aid. Against all odds he fought each and every one of them. Towards the end, where it seemed all hope was lost for him and the humans, he struck down the leader with all his strength, destroying their power source. He handed down his Axe of Courage: giving the humans incentive to build their own weapons, create better defences and look out for one another in a community.

"It is from him the humans draw on their sense of pride, loyalty and honour. I have based my life on his example…"

Upon concluding her tale, she swelled up her chest and placed her first over her spark, just as the humans turned to the depiction on the wall and bowed to it.

"Holy slag…" Rattrap uttered softly with a broken voice. Despite having known him for mere hours, Whitefang could tell this was not like him.

"Excuse me?"

He did not respond to her at first. His mind was still buzzing, still comprehending. That mural on the cave wall…The name finally came out…

"Dinobot…"

Whitefang's optics immediately widened with awe. "You knew him?!" she gasped breathlessly.

Still keeping his eyes on the wall painting, Rattrap answered, "Yeah, I guess yeh could say that…"

"…What was he like?" she asked him, leaning in like a curious puppy.

Rattrap huffed. "He was a slag-spoutin' saurian!…" he went quiet for a moment, "…but he was **my** slag-spoutin' saurian…"

He hung his head at he thoughts of his fallen enemy…comrade…friend. He didn't realise that Whitefang was gazing on the mural with a different set of eyes.

"He was a Maximal…" she breathed, pride glistening in her eyes. She looked to the sky and said, "I hope that I would have made him proud…"

"Yeah," Rattrap said softly, "I bet you would."

After about a minute's silence, they looked at each other with a new kind of respect. The humans had finished their ritual by leaving a version of Dinobot's improvised axe at the foot of the wall on which his rather obscure mural was carved.

"Come on," Whitefang announced, "let's inform the humans."

"Gotcha."

As they passed the pedestal with the weapon, Rattrap held back a little and let his companion continue to meet the human tribe further down the valley. The rat gazed up at the mural, and saluted, before moving on.

…

……

…

Meanwhile, Greyback and Cheetor ran through sparse savannah forest ground.

"How is it…almost everywhere we go…there are caves involved?" Cheetor asked between breaths as he ran.

Struggling to keep up with the turbocharged Transmetal II cheetah, Greyback answered, quite sensibly, "When we first woke up, we weren't too sure how to deal with the outside world, so we kept underground until we could establish our beasts' instincts."

As last they reached their destination. Cheetor recognised the place.

"This is Tarantulas' old lab!" he exclaimed. Well, one of them, anyway. One thing was different though: the rock pile that once covered the entrance was now much smaller, in fact it was almost gone. "Uhh…I'm guessing this is where he lives?"

"Yep." Greyback answered simply, panting from the fast run. He Maximised and carefully made his way into the cave, and Cheetor followed suit.

Once they got further into the cave, the wolf called out, "Helloooooooo? Bugeyes, are you in here?"

"Wait, what did you call him?" a confused Cheetor asked.

Very suddenly, a loud buzzing filled the cave. Cheetor immediately put his guard up, but Greyback seemed unphased. In fact, he looked most unimpressed. It got louder, something was definitely coming towards them. Cheetor backed away slightly, but Greyback stood his ground with his arms folded.

At last, the buzzing culprit revealed himself.

"Nnnnyyyyerrrr, what doggy bot want nowww? Wazzzzzbinatorr busy…"

Cheetor's jaw nearly hit the ground.

"WASPINATOR?!"

The old Predacon's lage purple eyes caught sight of Cheetor, paused for a second, then panicked. He started buzzing around the entire cave, screaming, "Cat bot CAT BOT! Stay awaaaaay from Wazzbinator, Wazzbinator not want another blowing up!"

"Huh, I guess you two have met," Greyback observed nonchalantly.

"No slagging way you're still functional…" Cheetor yelled at the insectoid maniac zigzagging through the room.

"Stay away, stay away from Wazzbinator! Nyurr, trying to break record! Trying to stay in one piece for morrre than one centuryyyy!"

"Easy, old man, no one's gonna blow you up. Right Cheetor?" the wolf glared at the Transmetal II. It was tempting to shoot him again, for old time's sake, but Cheetor agreed to disable his weapons. Eventually, Waspinator calmed down and settled on the wall not too close to where they sat down.

"Why doggy bot bring cat bot?" the wasp asked like a child who didn't get the sweets he wanted.

"Because, we need your help again," Greyback answered reluctantly, forcing the words out. "Kahn's been getting particularly tricky lately, and he seems to have gone a bit quiet…"

"Nyyuuurr…" Waspinator said thoughtfully, fiddling with an antenna, "Spider bot being quiet not good. Planning something…"

"Yeah, we figured that," the Maximal lieutenant began.

"Or maybe hiding…" the insect continued. Cheetor was taken aback. Never would he expect Waspinator, the witless wonder, to come to any sort of thought provoking conclusion. "Spider bot always quiet when things not going well. Nyur, Tarantulas not very good at facing problemzzz. Nyor maybe spider bot waiting. Someone else planning destruction of reality or bzzzzzzsomthing…"

"Huh…" Greyback sat back, thinking carefully. Cheetor still couldn't get over it.

"How are you still online?" Cheetor asked Waspinator, who scurried a few inches away at the sound of the cat's voice.

"Wazzbinator had planzzz," he began to explain while Greyback mulled things over, not really listening. He'd heard this story, anyway. "Fleshie bots worshipped Wazzbinator day in, day out. Wazzbinator bored. Fleshie bots beg Wazzbinator not go. But Wazzbinator need space. Now Wazzpinator chilled in own crib! Hardly ever get blown up and, nyuhurr, chick bots dig brooding loner bit."

Cheetor sat through that monologue with his mouth slightly open. "Seriously? Four thousand stellar cycles?"

"Well, Wazzbinator had nap for little while," the bug explained. "Only been awak for two thousand stellar cycles. Gooood long nap."

Just then, Greyback broke out of his frozen stance and stood up.

"Alright Cheetor, let's go."

"Wait, what?" the cat protested, "But…why didn't Tarantulas recruit you back into the Preds?" he asked Waspinator.

"Cat bot not know this," began Waspinator, "but Wazzbinator no longer Predacon. Sick of being evil, sick of being blown to scrap. Not Predacon: not fight. Not fight: not blow up."

"I said come on, cat…" Greyback repeated, getting more authoritative.

Cheetor sighed. "Fine. But this isn't finished, Waspinator," he said, pointing to the 'former' Predacon, "We still got some things to straighten out."

"Nyyoooo, now Wazzbinator have to move again! Just got feng shui looking nice…"

The Maximals left the cave to irritated buzzing.

"Why didn't you tell us you knew Waspinator?" he demanded of Greyback.

"…You didn't ask. Besides, why would I tell anybody that? Have you **seen** him?"

The cat shrugged it off. "So what now?"

The wolf transformed back into beast mode and answered, "Now we plan. Let's get back to Pangaea Two."

…

……

…

Locked away in his quarters in Pangaea One, Dragonstail sat on the floor against his bed, legs folded, holding a handheld holoprojector. The image was of Saddleback.

His mind was mulling over his new instructions. How did he get himself in this mess? What could possibly be worth it?

Her.

Just her. He had to save her, but he hated that he was betraying her.

"I'm sorry…"

He shut the projector, got up and made his way to the Predacon base…

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


	6. Still Standing Part 2

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 21:** Still Standing Part 2

"Well, where is it?"

"I dunno, but I'm not gonna like what he's gonna do to me when he finds out it's missing…"

Elektra attempted to help Sabergem find the missing case.

"Who could've taken it?" she asked him lazily, without much care or enthusiasm. The feline shrugged.

"No one could've taken it…aw, man, it's my pelt for this…"

"Ah, don't worry. It'll be your teeth first, then your hide" the eel snickered at the sabertooth, who glared at her in response.

"Don't you have a video set to jumpstart?"

Elektra dimmed her optics and shrugged passively. "Suit yourself." As she left the room, she tilted her head in his direction and said, "See you at the funeral…"

Sabergem banged his head against the wall.

…

……

…

The next morning, Jagna was going through reports that Whitefang and her group had handed in about their suspicions. She was reluctant, but forced herself to read on. They were so ambiguous, so unbelievably vague, yet each one screamed further evidence to her.

She angrily threw them down onto the table and rubbed her tired optics. She heard a knock on the door, and after hiding the reports said, "Enter."

"Oh," a quiet and stammering voice replied, "I don't want to disturb you…"

"No, don't worry, come on in," she said, waving her hand at her visitor. "What can I do for you, Dragonstail?"

The stallion shuffled his way through the door and into her office chamber. "Actually…" he began slowly, cowing a hoof on the ground, "I was thinking more what I can do for you." When she raised a brow ridge at him, he looked at the ground, "I overheard a conversation between a few Predacons on my patrol…"

_Oh, Primus, not more_…Jagna thought despairingly.

"Kahn's got a new weapon he's been developing. Apparently it's finished, but he hid it away so that none of his crew could tamper with it. I think I've found it."

Her optics widened. "Really?" she asked, leaning forward and pricking her ears. He nodded, and she went into deep thought. What kind of weapon was it? If it was secret enough for Kahn to keep it from his own troops then it must have been powerful. And the Predacon leader was exceptionally clever, and he knew how to make dangerous things.

After a while, she ordered decisively, "Show me."

…

……

…

Later, Dragonstail led Jagna to a cave system not far from the local canyon. The passed the gorge, which Dragonstail eyed guiltily. When she asked him about it, he hurriedly said he was trying to remember exactly where it was he saw the weapon.

"In there," He pointed to the mouth of a large cave surrounded by creepy climbing foliage.

Looking around, Jagna observed, "This looks like a likely candidate for something secret and sinister…"

"Yeah…" He cowed the ground so hard he bore a hole on the soil, "In there, right in the mouth…"

The leopard went in and looked curiously from side to side. "I don't think I see what you're trying to show me, DT…" she said slowly.

"I'm real sorry, Jag…" he said, his voice only just audible.

As she tuned around to ask what he meant, he threw a powerful punch across her face. She was instantly knocked to the ground, grunting.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated as he withdrew one of Kahn's energy drainers. He rammed the blade into her back and she screamed. Slowly, however, her voice dissipated and quietened as her energy was drained from her body, and the world went black.

…

……

…

Later, near to dusk…

The stallion mech dragged his stasis-locked leader to the ledge of an enormous canyon. He stopped at the edge and looked down into the gorge, his spark heavy. He couldn't go on like this much longer. He wished he wasn't doing what he was, but he had to…

He heard a thud behind him and he winced. Megatron had landed. Composing himself, he turned to face him.

"There," he stated, releasing Jagna from his grasp. She fell gently to her knees and regained consciousness. She looked up in a shocked daze as Dragonstail walked towards an unfamiliar red mech, "You have the Maximal leader. Now about…"

"What do you think you're playing at?!" Megatron bellowed at the stallion, not allowing him to finish, "This is not Optimus Primal!"

"Optimus?" a bewildered Dragonstail replied, "Optimus isn't our leader, she is!" he yelled, pointing at Jagna.

"What?!"

"And who the hell are you?!" Jagna demanded ferociously, trying to stand. But her energy deposits were severely depleted, and her knees buckled.

Megatron's glare deepened, but then relaxed as he considered things. This may not have been who he was looking for, but the destruction of the Maximal leader, whoever he or she was, was a vital step in his and his ancestor's plan.

"No matter…" he mused as he watched her get slowly to her feet, "…one Maximal leader is better than none, I suppose…" He raised the deadly weapon and aimed it straight between the leopard's eyes. Unsure of what was happening, she stared down it for a second in shock. Then she fixed her optics on Dragonstail, the traitor, betrayal and pain written across her face. He did not look at her directly, only at the ground around her feet.

All of a sudden, Megatron had a change of mind.

"No…" he said, slowly lowering the gun, "…you do it." he instructed Dragonstail.

"What? No way!"

"I'm afraid you have little choice right now. Do it," he instructed with such gentle ferocity it sent chills down the stallion's spine. Megatron threw the huge gun at him, and told him to aim.

"No. I can't. I won't! I've done this much for you but I can't!"

"Remember our deal?" Megatron asked coldly, his narrow optics boring into the stallion's very core, "Because my memory is a little…shaky…"

This time, as he took aim, Dragonstail looked straight at Jagna. She no longer looked betrayed. She was glaring at him with the most horrific mistrust and disgust. But she did not attempt to run away. She stood firm and faced he who betrayed her trust.

Then a new voice screamed, "NO!"

Someone galloped from behind a rock formation and screeched to a halt close by. Dragonstail's optics widened. "Saddleback?"

"What are you doing, DT?" the mare asked desperately.

"How long have you…" he began, but he was interrupted.

"You're the spy?" her voice was high and her optics were wide with hurt. He stared at her helplessly. _If only she knew…_

"Yes, yes, very drole, but if you'll excuse us my dear, we have business to attend to…" Megatron added, bored.

"Saddleback, leave now," Jagna ordered as calmly as she could, though she was shaking and her chest was heaving.

The mare ignored her. She did not take her eyes off Dragonstail. Then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Arachnikahn appeared, fuming.

"SO!" he screeched at the stallion, "It was you who stole my invention? Beyond stupidity, even for a Maximal!"

Megatron recognised that voice…

"Tarantulas?" he asked in disbelief, "My dear Tarantulas, is that you?"

"…Megatron!" Arachnikahn stammered, his mouth agape when he saw the red dragon mech.

"My, my, time certainly does heal all wounds. Even death, so it seems…" Megatron laughed, and Kahn twitched.

"Tails!" Saddleback yelled desperately at her mate, trying to get his attention back.

Arachnikahn finally noticed who was standing behind the hoofed nuisance, in range of the weapon in his spy's hands.

"What are you waiting for?!" he yelled menacingly at the poor wretch, "Shoot her now! I command you!"

"I think not!" Megatron bellowed back, aiming his dragon head at him, "You follow MY command!" In retaliation, Kahn aimed his own weapon at his old leader.

"Tails, don't do this, please!" Saddleback implored, her cheeks getting damp with tears of desperation.

"You shall not live past today Megatron!" Kahn spat hysterically, trying to mask his absolute panic at his return, "I should have made sure of that thousands of stellar cycles ago!!!" He fired. But his aim was off because his arm was shaking.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion.

Kahn's quasar charge hit Dragonstail's arm.

The weapon fired.

A deadly charge of focused unstable energon crept its way towards Jagna's spark.

Saddleback threw herself forward.

The charge hit her square in the chest and tore through her body and out of her back. A small extension of the charge hit Jagna behind her. Saddleback had stopped dead.

"No…" Dragonstail breathed as he realised what had happened.

She stared up in his direction, her gaze unfocused and empty.

Then her optics went dim. She fell backwards and landed into a very damaged Jagna, who attempted to catch her, but they both plummeted back and off the canyon edge.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" the stallion dropped the gun and ran for the cliff edge. He stretched out his hand as he helplessly watched his mate plunge to the floor of the canyon with his leader. He squeezed his eyes shut as they landed with a horrifying crunch that echoed throughout the valley.

Behind him, Megatron and Arachnikahn had disappeared.

…

……

…

Several megacycles later when the sun had gone down, Cheetor sped along his patrol.

"Cheetor to base. Not much to report here, just a big empty…hold up…"

He stopped. He sniffed the air. Energon residue. A lot of it.

"Hold that thought," he reported, "I'm going to check something out."

He prowled slowly along the valley floor of Grid Targon, sniffing continuously for anything out of the ordinary.

Then he spotted a scent he recognised, but it was being disturbed by something…and it wasn't a pleasant smell. He quickened his pace. At last he saw something about 100 metres away…

"Jag!"

He ran flat out to her and transformed into robot mode when he reached her. He knelt and looked down in shock at the sight of her. Half of her left side was missing, as if a giant had ripped it off. He gingerly placed a hand on her remaining arm. Her optics flickered briefly as she tried to find his.

"Easy, Boss Cat. I'll get you outta here…"

…

……

…

Later, a crowd was gathered outside the medical chamber of Pangaea One. The Maximals watched anxiously as their leader was being tended to. Rhinox angrily shoved his way through the gaping mob.

"Will you give us a little space please?"

She was a mess. The only bots allowed in the room (Skylark, Rhinox, Cheetor and Greyback) held their breath.

"What happened?!" Greyback demanded the minute Cheetor brought her in. Cheetor could only tell him what he knew: that he found her as she was.

All of a sudden, the leopard grabbed Skylark's arm. Her grip was shaky but firm.

"Where…Saddleback…where is she?"

"Saddleback?" Rhinox asked, looking at Cheetor, who shook his head.

"You were the only one I found, Jag…" he answered slowly.

…

……

…

Some distance away, the rain beat down on the back of a figure crouched over something.

Dragonstail held Saddleback in his arms, the drops of rain blending with his tears as they ran down his cheek and onto her empty shell.

_I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…_

He wanted more than anything else to utter those words to her, but he couldn't. All he could muster were more choked sobs.

He looked imploringly at the sky, wishing he could turn back time. Then, for a few seconds, the clouds parted to reveal the crescent moon. He looked down, and it reflected on Saddleback's face, as if she was smiling up at him. Then it disappeared as fast as it came as dark clouds engulfed it.

He brought her closer to him and squeezed her tightly.

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


	7. Old Friends, New Enemies

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 22:** Old Friends, New Enemies

Saddleback's death hit home hard. Even those who hardly knew her were unsettled by the news of the first death in their history.

The funeral, though touching, was very unsettling. No one knew quite how to handle it, especially when Dragonstail was spotted.

It was two days before he gave up her body. They didn't even know if she was alive or not. As far as anyone knew, he hid away for that long, willing for her to come online again. When he finally came to terms with what he had done, he contacted Greyback. He had said that he knew where she was. When Greyback arrived at the coordinates the stallion gave him, he wasn't in a good mood at all. Jagna was still only just recovering in the repair bay, and despite his 'professional capacity', he would have liked to tear him apart.

He arrived to a solemn sight. Saddleback had been laid on her back with her arms crossed over each other under her favourite tree, looking peaceful and rested. Her body, when hit by the weapon, was disfigured, but Dragonstail had done well to repair it, or at least make her look like her old self. Greyback wasn't convinced she was…he could hardly bring himself to think about it. He went up to her and kneeled down carefully, and placed a hand on her face. She was cold as ice. He looked up, having heard something, but saw no one. What he did see, something he hadn't noticed up until that point, was the weapon that killed her…destroyed.

Little did he know that Dragonstail was watching close by to make sure his mate's body was treated properly.

Greyback had then called for back-up to escort him back to base. The last thing anyone wanted was a Predacon attack at this point. Hopefully, even they would have had decency enough to respect their loss.

When they arrived, everyone fell silent. Their footsteps echoed through the cove of Pangaea One, sending chills down everyone's spinal panes. Jagna, with the help of Cheetor, came to meet them, and when she saw Saddleback, she quickly turned away. She didn't remember what happened after they fell; only the horrible notion that something was wrong as the mare landed on her, when she couldn't detect a spark pulse.

Preparations would have begun straight away if Greyback, as acting leader with Jagna out of action, hadn't sent out a search party for a few Maximals that had gone looking for Dragonstail. Among them were Slapstix, Quickstep and Sunset, the mare's closest friends. The Maximal lieutenant harshly explained that it was brash, irrational and stupid, as well as an insult to her memory just days after her death.

Not only that, but the Maximals faced a brand new threat: Megatron. Optimus, Rattrap, Rhinox and Cheetor were stunned at Jagna's retelling when she was strong enough to speak.

"I won't be doing anything for a while…" she said hoarsely to the group, including Greyback and Skylark. "Optimus, you know better than anyone what kind of danger this malevolent metalhead can cause. I'm placing you as second-in-command. Promise me you'll do all you can to…" She began to trail off as she got weaker. Optimus placed a finger on her arm, and nodded.

"I promise."

Greyback was thus in charge, but he took it on with a heavy heart. One of his teammates had died, his leader-and-partner was in a critical state, and he had a funeral to arrange. Not the best way to start out. But everyone assured him of their confidence in his leadership.

And so, after a relatively quiet week or so, Jagna was almost back to her normal self to attend the ceremony. Almost. She now had a very basic prosthetic left arm that didn't match the rest of her body. Not even the repair chambers on the Hercules could have fixed that kind of damage. They did, however, salvage her hand, so she was not completely unidextrous.

It took place just before sunset. Rhinox had told them that the cremating stand still stood near where the Axalon once was. He did not say why it was there, just that it was. It was difficult to think that it would be used again.

Her body was laid carefully on top, and when it was activated it lifted her gracefully into the air and span, slowly and hypnotically. That was when Dragonstail arrived.

All bases were left on high auto-alert, so that every single Maximal could attend. Some had not seen each other for decacycles, but the occasion did not permit happy reunions. One person spotted a dark figure looming over a rocky outcrop several hundred yards away. Then another bot spotted it and another and so on. Thought at first to be a Predacon, a few weapons were drawn. Even when they discovered who it was, guns were still at the ready.

Slapstix was the first to head towards him, but Skylark held his arm to stop him.

"Leave him," she said quietly, tightening her grip on his arm. "He should be here."

"He doesn't deserve to be here," Slapstix snarled back, wrenching his arm away. "I don't care how you look at it, he's the one who fired the gun, he's the one who killed her!"

Skylark nodded solemnly, "But he's also the one who destroyed the weapon and gave her back to us. They were mates, and he knew the right thing to do…" She tried her best to comfort the seal, but he was having none of it.

"The right thing to do would have been to shoot himself," he said bitterly. She grabbed his arm again, only tighter and angrier.

"These things happen," she hissed. "No matter what we try to do or tell ourselves, no one deserves anything like that. So don't you dare think that way. Do you understand me?" He had never seen her so stern and assertive, so he lowered his head, and continued to mourn, occasionally casting his gaze over to the stallion.

Saddleback's body was lifted higher and higher into the air. The glare of the sun was bright, and it shone off her like a crystal. The serene blue energy particles began to engulf her completely. A procession of flying Maximals took their places. All at once, they took to the air and circled over the device, gracefully swooping in and out of each other, releasing a trail of petals that disintegrated when they landed near her body.

That was the cue. With heavy hearts, Jagna placed a hand on a dial on one side of the device and Greyback took the other. Together, they turned them, and the process completed itself.

The blue particles swarmed peacefully around the fallen Maximal, and she disappeared, transforming into the most glorious golden stars. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, trying to get a last look itself, and its rays caused the stars to dance joyously as they ascended into the atmosphere.

Every Maximal stood to attention and saluted as the gold star-like entities came together and formed into her spark. It lingered for a moment, and made its way upwards. Then it took a detour no one expected.

As if drawn by a magnet, it went in Dragonstail's direction. It stopped next to his face where his tears were illuminated by an eerie blue glow. Then it moved on, past the planet's atmosphere, past the boundaries of space, time and being. A large shimmer of spark energy indicated its completed journey to the Matrix. At one with those who had been and will be.

…

……

…

A rift appeared in the fabric of space. A small jettison craft plummeted its way out of the anomaly and down towards a blue and green marble. The occupants were hurriedly trying to control their vessel as it cascaded out of control.

"Thrusters at maximum!"

"There are no thrusters on an escape pod!"

"Well, there should be!"

The outer layers of the pod began to glow bright white.

"Hold on to your skidplates, we're coming in for a landing!"

Across the planet, detection radars went crazy. The scanners at Pangaea One, Two and Porta Magma were the first to pick up the incoming ship's signal, followed by the small outposts dotted across the grids. But no one heard their alarms, for the signal was lost once the pod broke through the atmospheric layer.

…

……

…

Jagna stood in the repair bay, brooding and facing away from the door. She had been staring at her new arm for nearly a megacycle now, pondering its price: a Maximal life. She did not know if Saddleback had tried to save her or to stop Dragonstail, but either way she was gone now.

Plates of slightly rusted steel covered the damaged parts of her cheek, a chunk of her left shoulder was gone, as well as her entire left arm, and so was replaced by a rough steel skeleton. Rhinox and Skylark had bit-by-bit been building it up, so there were wires wrapped around the frame, and there was different coloured plating here and there. The only thing left of it was her hand, reattaching which seemed more painful than having it blown off. The complex circuit rewiring took several megacycles, and the only reason Jagna allowed that time to be wasted on her hand was because she was out cold. Snaky buggers. But she was grateful nonetheless.

She resented being restricted to this dismally confining chamber. In fact, it was the first time in a long time she had been given orders. But the medics were insistent, and she wouldn't be much good to anyone. It gave her time to recover, but it also gave her plenty of time to regret.

She heard a knock on the door. When she didn't respond, Optimus' voice asked, "Can I come in?"

She shrugged, and he did so. He walked into her peripheral vision, and stood for a while to see if she would look his way. When she didn't, he slowly sat down within her line of sight.

"I came to see how you were doing," he said tentatively, observing her closely.

She huffed, clenching her shabby new fist and finally taking her eyes off it. "Well, I'm doing fine…" she replied, strolling over towards Optimus but stopping halfway. She was about to continue, but her posture collapsed with a deep arduous sigh.

"Jagna…" Optimus began slowly and tenderly, leaning forward, "you can't blame yourself for what happened. Trust me, I know what you're going through."

She shook her head and laughed painfully. Optimus cocked his head when she began to speak. "You don't…"

"Jag, please don't assume…" Optimus began in a more defensive tone.

"I'm not," she interrupted, turning her left side away from him so only her good eye could see him, "You were close to the friends you lost, weren't you?" When he nodded, she continued, "That's the problem. This has never happened to us before. Saddleback was so quiet, so reserved. She's gone now, and…" She struggled with the next sentence, "…and I barely knew her…"

Her voice started to break and she turned away quickly, and Optimus got up slowly.

"What kind of a leader am I to…"

Primal walked decisively over to her, placed a finger on her shoulder and turned her to face him.

"You are one of the most capable leaders I have ever met," he assured her firmly, "You have an enormous crew, and quite difficult some of them. I don't think I could ever handle it. But you're still only one bot. I'm sure they all know what you'd do for them. I certainly do…"

He had gradually gotten down to his knees so that he could face her eye to eye. When he finished, they exchanged eye contact for a small while. Eventually she hung her head.

"Thank you…"

…

……

…

Meanwhile, Porta Magma had never been so quiet. All the Predacons were now eyeing each other with suspicion. They had heard of this Megatron character briefly before, but no one knew much about him. And no one knew who apart from Dragonstail could have possibly leaked information to him.

Except Steelclaw.

Ever since the incident at the canyon, the coyote had been more on edge than ever before. He was insisting on longer scout and monitor duties, and always insisted that someone be with him, but he was always specific. He made sure it was a different unit each time, and because he was so engrossed in the latest events, Arachnikahn paid no notice and simply said yes to his drone.

Today, it was Xaphron who was on duty with him in Grid Targon. She had been watching him very closely for the past few decacycles, even more so in the last few days.

As he clambered uphill through a pine forest, the fallen leaves crunching beneath his feet, he could feel her buzzing uncomfortably close to him. Inevitably, he turned around and she nearly flew into him.

"What?!" he barked the buzzing of her long wings ringing in his brain.

Her large insect eyes remained intently focused on him. "You know something…" she said suspiciously.

"Yeah, I know I'm getting' really slaggin' ticked off by my current scouting buddy," he retorted with a snarl, turning on his heel to continue. But she zoomed in front of him to block his path.

"You've never wanted a scouting buddy before," she continued, hovering strangely still, her wings glistening in the dusk light. "Either your hiding something for your own purpose, or someone's making you…"

Suddenly he Terrorised and grabbed they insect around the throat, she choked as a response, her wings flailing madly against his strong grip.

"How dare you even suggest that I'm so weak as to be cowering behind trees!" he snarled, his red optics practically on fire, "I don't answer to anyone, got me?!"

"Anyone but me…" Gammatron's voice echoed through the pine leaves. After a brief moment of pure terror, Steelclaw threw Xaphron to the ground and began to run. Unfortunately, he ran straight into the komodo.

"My, my, my, leaving so soon?" Gammatron asked in a singsong tone, "I haven't even introduced you to the family…"

"W-what family?" the coyote stuttered, petrified.

"You'll be seeing them in due course. In the meantime, explain yourself," he said, pointing to the crumpled mass of dragonfly he had left on the floor.

A thought suddenly occurred to Steelclaw. "Yeah…she's been bugging me about this for a while now…" He gritted his teeth as his brain mulled through his thoughts, "And I told her…and she wants in."

"In?"

"She wants to help you guys in…whatever it is you're doing!"

Gammatron stared at the much smaller Predacon suspiciously. Eventually he walked slowly over to Xaphron, who was beginning to come round.

"What possible use could she…" he began, but when he turned around Steelclaw had already pelted away down the steep hill. Gammatron grumbled and shook his head. "Cretin," he said darkly, "I'll deal with you later."

Xaphron finally stirred. She must have blacked out, she thought. As she rubbed her head, she saw two feet standing in front of her. They were not Steelclaw's. She looked up.

"You! Xaphron, Terrorise!"

Before she could completely transform, Gammatron grabbed her throat as easily as snatching a twig from a dying tree. This was certainly not her day.

"I hear you might be interested in assisting me, dear Xaphy," Gammatron began in his most charming voice. But she wasn't having it.

"Of all the Preds, I never would have thought…"

"Yes, that was the point," he answered a little impatiently, "Besides, a wretched little insect such as yourself, I'm surprised you suspected anything at all."

"I happen to be very observant," she snarled back, her wings twitching. "And I'm not helping you, traitor!"

"Ha. Traitor. I've never truly been under Arachnikahn's rule. There is so much to which you are misinformed, my dear. Especially regarding your precious leader…" He narrowed his optics and looked directly into hers. Then he realised something. "But then…you've never much cared for him, have you? I doubt you've even enjoyed being a Predacon?"

He must have caught her out, judging by her stunned silence.

"Well, whatever I believe, I'm still not helping you!" she yelled defiantly.

"Well then, perhaps a brief audience with my brother will convince you otherwise," he threatened menacingly, "He is very persuasive…" As he reached out to grab her, a shot hit his hand. The reptile growled and turned to see who had dared to fire at him. Then another shot hit him again, and again, and again, from all directions above him.

Eventually, having frozen with fear for a few seconds, Xaphron joined in the firing. Gammatron growled even deeper, but because of the surprisingly accurate onslaught of missiles he was forced to retreat.

Just as suddenly as the firing had started it stopped, but before she could get her bearings Xaphron was grabbed again, but this time pulled up into the trees. Before she could make a noise, however, a hand placed itself in front of her mouth to stifle her voice. But it wasn't an aggressive hand. Besides, its owner (she presumed) had helped her…

She managed to turn around, and staring back at her were two huge purple buy eyes.

"Who are you?!" she yelped, freeing her mandibles.

"Shhh! Fellow buggy bot need keep quiet!" said Waspinator in a hushed tone. "Wazzzpinator help you; Wazzpinator know Megatron, know Tarantulas too. Follow Wazzpinator!"

Elsewhere, Steelclaw had finally stopped running and had now slumped himself against a tree, panting.

This was madness. All of it.

After several minutes of simply staying still, his mind was finally allowed to think. He was caught in between two very powerful forces: Kahn, who he knew was powerful; and Gammatron and his mystery guest…who knew how powerful they were? He couldn't simply assume that they weren't, otherwise they wouldn't have got this far.

Then there was the Maximal traitor. No one had seen him for ages. He was certainly not welcome amongst the Predacons, and he had been rejected by his own kind.

Now Xaphron knew. That only left Antiquitora, who must have been helping Gammtron with…

At last it occurred to him. He was alone in this, but not entirely. He knew things about everyone. And knowledge is power…

"Oh yeah…" he snickered to himself, "I could definitely see an upside to this…"

He chuckled, and his laugh echoed across the hillside throughout the empty pine forest.

…

……

…

Greyback sat in Jagna's chambers while she was refined to the recovery quarters, going through the reports from the day. Holy slag, did she have a lot of work to do. As he stared wide eyed at the buzzing reading screens, he couldn't imagine doing this every day. Perhaps he should just be happy with his lot and stay lieutenant, at least for a little while longer.

Suddenly there was a very urgent knock on the door, and he nearly fell off the chair. He couldn't remember how to open the door from the desk, he scrambled up and towards the door.

When he opened it he suddenly found himself on his back fro the force of the impact.

"Bounder?!" he yelled with difficulty as the trembling hare lay right on top of his chest, "What the heck?"

"Sorry," Bounder mumbled awkwardly as he clambered off and helped Greyback to his feet, "I just got a report, Sunset's scouting group hasn't reported in…"

"And?" the wolf replied, still a little angry from shock.

Bounder stared at him, dumbfounded. "…I think they've gone after Dragonstail. He was spotted near that area…"

Greyback sighed heavily, "Not again," he muttered, rubbing his temple. "We can't make any assumptions."

He instructed Bounder to return to the control centre with him. When they arrived, a small number of Maximals were dotted about the monitors. He spotted who he was looking for, and ran through the instructions in his head.

"Cheetor!" he called. The cat swung around in surprise.

"What, me?"

"No, I meant the Cheetor next to you…" Greyback answered sarcastically. He smacked his head when Cheetor actually looked around, but continued, "I want you to take Bounder, Sleek and Streakhorn and close in on Sunset's scouting group, make sure they're alright. And make sure they don't get into any trouble."

Still rather astounded, Cheetor nodded, and hesitantly looked about to see if the others were following him out. As they left, Greyback sighed and shook his head, hoping his faith in the eager young Maximal was well rooted.

_He'll be fine…I hope…_

…

……

…

Outside, Cheetor's mind was buzzing. What was he expected to do, exactly?

But despite his busy head, his eyes managed to wander in Sleek's direction. Her name suited her, he thought. She was graceful, elegant…and very beautiful. He had spoken to her a few times, and each time ended up sounding like a fool. Before they began their mission, he thought he would establish a good start. He instructed Bounder to scout ahead and report back in a few cycles. That was one down, now to get Sleek alone…

While he braced himself, Sleek was deep in conversation with Streakhorn about the current situation.

"I really hoped they wouldn't do anything like this again," she was saying, while Streakhorn appeared to be listening, "I mean, I understand they're angry, they were her friends, but this isn't…are you even listening?" She noticed that the gazelle's gaze drifted past her head, her arms were folded and she was squinting at something. "Hon?" Sleek asked, slowly waving a hand in front of her, "What are you looking at?"

"He's looking at you again…" she growled, glaring at Cheetor. The swan subtly looked behind her, and when she caught the cat's eye, he shuffled and quickly looked away.

Sleek laughed lightly, "Oh, he makes me laugh…" Streakhorn remained unconvinced and continued to squint darkly. The swan placed a reassuring shoulder on her shoulder and caught eye contact. "How many times am I going to have to tell you, there's no need for you to…"

"Um, Sleek?" came Cheetor's voice from behind as he tapped her on the shoulder, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Sleek attempted to keep a straight face as Cheetor led her away, and as he did Streakhorn tensed up and her squint turned into a scowl.

"So…" Cheetor began, feigning casual confidence.

"So…" Sleek repeated, as plain faced as they come.

"So, yeah, I um, I gotta lead this thing…" he said shakily, leaning against the wall of the mountain as suavely as he could.

"Mhm, congratulations," the flyer replied. Stumped and expecting more of a response, Cheetor coughed and scratched the back of his neck. Inside, she was laughing, but was very good at keeping a straight face. She knew it was mean, but watching him writhe was absolutely precious.

After a series of well calculated moves, Cheetor continued, "So how you been? Haven't seen you around lately."

"Yeah, I've been around P Two, mostly," she answered.

"Well, it's nice seeing you now…" Cheetor, as subtly as a flying mallet on fire, put his hand on the wall next her and leaned in closer. Consequently, she leaned back in response.

Seeing this, Streakhorn was about ready to scream. Just as she was about to march up to Cheetor, Bounder caught her arm and said, "All clear, we can go on ahead…You ok?" he added, curious at her raged expression.

Still sneering somewhat in the others' direction, she said simply, "Fine. Let's get going…"

"Uh, what about them?" Bounder asked confusedly as Streakhorn dragged him away.

"They'll catch up…" she growled, not looking back.

Meanwhile, Cheetor inched closer and closer and Sleek leaned back further and further. Eventually, when his optics slowly flickered shut she slipped away subtly. About 10 seconds later Cheetor activated his optics with a very confused look on his face.

"Come on, speed demon, catch up!" Sleek cried from the air, having transformed and taken off. As she flew off to follow Streakhorn and Bounder, Cheetor slammed his head against the mountain wall.

"AAAARGH!"

…

……

…

Sunset quietly prowled the foot of the mountain range, sniffing every inch of the ground carefully. She picked up several small mammals, a few birds here and there, until she finally found the one she was looking for.

"He's been here…" she said darkly. Behind her, Quickstep came to her and Slapstix brought up the rear in robot mode (as he couldn't even hope to manage as a seal this far inland).

"You're sure you just wanna talk to him?" Quickstep asked nervously.

"Of course…" Sunset answered absentmindedly, now sniffing the air to follow the scent.

"It's just…" the meerkat continued, twitching her nose and darting her head on almost every direction, "I don't want things to get out of control you know? But then, he might want to kill us too….oh Primus, what if that weapon he left was just a fake? What if…"

Slapstix patted her back assuringly, "Now, now, don't let your imagine run away with you again. You're being paranoid…again…" he added.

She looked at him for a brief moment. "…That's it? No pun, no badly timed joke?"

He shook his head. "I'm not in the mood…"

Quickstep then realised; she had never seen him like this before. He was always in the mood for a laugh. Always. Whether appropriate or not. She had been focusing too much on what hey were doing to realise how this had affected him. He was very close to Saddleback, in fact she was his first real friend.

She tenderly placed a paw on his arm. He nodded to her, and gestured they should carry on, as Sunset was already ahead of them.

Meanwhile, not far from their position, a herd of wild horses grazed the plains. They each happily chose their patch and stuck to it, heads bents and mouths busy chewing. One slightly larger stallion stood out from the rest at the edge of the group. His head was lowered to the ground, but he was not grazing. Instead he looked over to a pair of horses. One stallion had led his mare to the greenest patch in the field, and as a gesture of thanks she nuzzled his neck.

Dragonstail's spark sank, and he moped away, hooves dragging in the soil.

The ground began to rumble. He pricked up his ears and shook out his mane. He recognised that sound. It sounded like a stampede. He turned around and sure enough the rest of the herd was cantering in his direction. Hurriedly he looked either side of him. There was a clearing to the left, and he darted for it. The herd shot past him as such a panicky speed, he wondered what could possibly have set them off.

He soon got his answer.

A pair of razor sharp claws dug into his back. He reared up, flailing his front legs and pounding his back hooves into the ground, trying to throw his assailant off him.

Eventually he lost his balance and landed on his back, partially crushing his passenger. But it wasn't flesh and bones he heard crunching beneath him.

He rolled over and saw who it was.

"Sunset?" he gasped as she lay motionless where he fell on here. "Are you…?"

"Raah!"

All of a sudden another set of claws was on him, only smaller and not so sharp. Then another body wrapped its arms around his neck. He managed to turn his head enough to see that it was Quickstep and Slapstix.

Panicking, he started bucking frantically. As soon as she was awake, Sunset rejoined the fray. Claws dug into his back, neck and sides, Dragonstail ran. He ran as fast as he could in no particular direction, bucking all the way. Occasionally someone would lose their balance, but clambered back on using his mane or tail.

His neighs of panic carried a long distance, and were picked up by Bounder's sharp ears nearly four cliks away.

"Oh slag…" e quickly sent a communication to Cheetor saying, "I think they found him."

Cheetor immediately replied asking where they might have been, and as soon as Bounder told him he said, "Right, meet me there. I'm faster, I'll get there first. Contact Sleek and Streakhorn and bring them to my position. Now get going!"

…

……

…

Back at the plain, Dragonstail was still bucking, but he had started imploring the three youngsters to get off. Either they didn't hear him or were ignoring him completely, for they continued. He finally resorted to slamming himself into rocks, for they were actually starting to damage him. There were rips in his coats and wires were exposed in several places.

At last, when he felt his strength leaving him and his knees started to buckle, a loud roar echoed through the valley.

Something leapt at Sunset, tackling her to the ground. It was Cheetor.

"What do you think you're doing?" he screamed at the white female.

"Get off me Cheetor!" she screamed back.

"This is no way to do things!" he scorned, having pinned her firmly to the ground.

But suddenly, a brown blur of fur leaped at Quickstep from the other side. Steelclaw. He snarled at her with his yellow stained teeth, but she kicked him off. He transformed and fired at the Maximals. Cheetor quickly got off Sunset and Maximised himself, growling in battle stance.

"Hello again, kitty cat!" cooed Steelclaw, "Ready for me to pound you again?"

Without responding, Cheetor lunged in the coyote's direction at top speed, forcing them both into the ground.

Despite what was happening, Slapstix remained wrapped tightly around Dragonstail's neck. He was squeezing so hard the stallion was having trouble breathing.

"Stix!" shouted Quickstep, having finally got up, "We gotta help Cheetor, stop it!"

He held on. Not knowing what to do, she transformed and ran at Slapstix, pleading him to let go.

Sunset had finally come to her senses and now faced off against Steelclaw with Cheetor.

"Give me your hand," he instructed.

"What?"

"Just do it!" he ordered again. She complied, and with a winking signal he tossed her towards the Predacon. She slid under his legs and kicked him from behind.

While she kept him busy, he sent a silent message to each of his field Maximals. The only ones who didn't seem to hear it were Quickstep and Slapstix.

"You kids think you got a chance?" Steelclaw sneered, "Quit wastin' my time, I'm not in the mood for babysitting…"

"Yeah?" Cheetor retorted, straightening his stance to a more confident one. "Alright then, I guess you win…"

Steelclaw (and Sunset) gave him a stunned stare. "What?"

"You're right, I don't stand a chance. Come get me."

Before taking a chance to consider what the cat was up to, Steelclaw made a lunge for him.

"NOW!" shouted Cheetor.

From above, Sleek bomb-dropped Streakhorn, who transformed in midair and fired on the Predacon while her flying companion joined. From behind, Sunset began an onslaught of rapid fire, and Bounder came from a hidden burrow hole, throwing himself at Steelclaw before he got to Cheetor.

For the final step, Cheetor took Steelclaw by the throat and hurled him aside. The Predacon landed in a crumpled heap, and the Maximals gave each other congratulatory cheers.

Amongst their celebrations, however, Steelclaw stirred and noticed the three remaining Maximals: Quickstep and Slapstix still entwined in a struggle with Dragonstail. He seized this opportunity to get what he came for. Immediately he fired in their direction, first hitting Quickstep, then Slapstix. Once the seal fell off him, Dragonstail transformed to face Steelclaw, but he too was shot down.

At last, the rest of the Maximals noticed the new fray and rushed to aid their comrades. They arrived to see Steelclaw grinning maniacally at them with the stallion mech over his shoulder.

"I'll be saying sayonara…for now…"

And at that, Steelclaw ran off into the distance, cackling as he went.

"No," Cheetor ordered as Sleek and Sunset attempted to follow them. "We need to get back to base. Now."

Slowly, they made their way home. On the journey, the older units kept a close watch on Sunset, Quickstep and Slapstix.

"You guys have a lot of explaining to do…"

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


	8. Herald Thy Neighbour

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 23:** Herald Thy Neighbour

Cheetor felt good about himself. The previous day had gone well, and he felt that he was being looked at with more respect, particularly from the group he just led. He walked down the corridor that headed to his quarters, and he passed a chamber that happened to be open.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" he heard Optimus say. Thinking nothing of it the feline continued walking.

"Cheetor," Jagna's voice answered. He stopped dead. Oh Primus, what could he have possibly done wrong? He edged closer to the door frame. Optimus and Jagna were inside one of the empty recreation chambers, and from what he could see they were sat in a relaxed manner…which could mean that he wasn't in trouble? Without letting himself be seen, he listened in curiously.

"What about Cheetor?" Optimus asked.

"I just wanted you to know I think he's doing really well," the leopard femme answered heartily, "I was very impressed with how he handled the situation yesterday,"

"That's good…" Optimus replied, obviously expecting more. Jagna sensed this, and her facial expression changed to a more serious one.

"But I was just wondering…" she spoke slowly in order to let Optimus consume what she was about to say, "…I see a lot of potential in him. Yes, he's a little irrational and hot-headed," (outside, Cheetor almost gave away his position with an insulted grunt), "but so was Greyback when I first met him. Granted, he's still irrational and hot headed, but not as much…" she finished with a small chuckle.

"What's your point?" Optimus asked, with some sense of the answer already.

Jagna looked at him seriously for a moment before replying. "Why are you holding him back?"

Optimus did not answer. Because he could not see his face, Cheetor didn't know how to react to the silence.

"Why are you asking me?" Optimus asked blandly, "You're his leader now…"

Jagna laughed lightly, "Well, whether I like it or not, you still seem to think you're the one in charge around here," She stared at him a little coldly for a brief second, but shook it off.

"You are though, aren't you? Holding him back?"

Once again, he did not respond immediately.

"Yes, I am."

Cheetor reared backwards at that answer.

"Why?" Jagna asked him quietly.

"He's not ready. And he won't know when he is…"

"But you will, will you?"

"I don't expect you to understand…"

She held up her hand very quickly, "Now hang on just one minute," she said sternly, "I know you may not think so, Optimus, but I've been doing this for a long time. Longer even than you, I dare say. And I can read people too. I see something in all of my crew. Including Cheetor. Now, I've come to respect you Optimus," he smiled at that, "but there's this…infuriating pig-headed arrogance about you." Optimus tilted his head, not expecting that. "You may not realise it, but you act like a wise, all-knowing leader who's seen it all. But there are things you can learn from me as well, Optimus. I'm just insulted you don't realise that."

He shook his head, "That's not he point. Cheetor will not learn…"

"Unless you give him a chance!" she interrupted, leaning forward. "Whatever mistakes he's made in the past shouldn't condemn him not to make further ones in the future."

Outside, Cheetor couldn't process what he'd just heard. He had always looked up to Optimus, thinking that he was helping him better himself. Had the last six stellar cycles counted for nothing?

"I appreciate what you're trying to do, Jagna," Optimus said, starting to rise from his seat, "but I know how to handle my crew…"

Jagna lowered and shook her head, pursing her lips. "And whether you like it or not Optimus, they're my crew now, remember?" She stood up to face him, even though it was slightly impractical, "You had your chance, Optimus."

She quickly left the room, and spotted Cheetor near the end of the corridor. Her cracked optics widened as he stared at her neutrally. He ran off just as Optimus followed Jagna out of the room.

"What are you looking at?"

"…Nothing."

The alarm suddenly screamed its monotonous "Alert. Alert," causing Optimus and Jagna to turn their heads.

Simultaneously they groaned, "What now?"

They gave themselves a quick and humoured stare. "Can't kick the habit, can you?" Jagna joked. Optimus laughed and followed her to the control centre. "What have we got?" the leopard asked Rhinox when she and Optimus arrived at the central console. She was officially back in charge, but was still confined to the base for a while longer.

"I'm picking up some more strong readings from Sector 19…now that I've had time to analyse them, they're looking very familiar," he directed this last comment at Optimus, who moved closer to the readings. His optics widened.

"Oh goody," he sighed, "our old friends…"

The readings were Vok. Optimus glanced sideways and noticed that the Pangaea crew members present (Jagna, Caricaal and Bounder) had the same uneasy looks on their faces.

"I'm guessing…" he started slowly, "…that you know of them?"

"We've met." Caricaal answered sardonically, "A few of us…got to know them."

Before Optimus could inquire, Jagna nudged Rhinox aside and leaned towards the microphone, "This is Pangaea One calling Greyback, come in Greyback."

After a few seconds of static, the lieutenant's voice answered, "This is Greyback, what can I do you for, Jag?"

The Maximal leader ignored the various snorts of laugher and replied, "We're picking up some atmospheric anomalies 12 klicks from your position. I'm sending you the coordinates now. Optimus and Cheetor will join you as soon as they're near enough," she looked towards the ape, who nodded after a brief second's incomprehension.

"Roger that, commander," Greyback replied, "anything specific you want me to look out for?"

Rhinox leaned in to answer, "I'd suggest just get a cursory glance…from a distance…" he added, the warning tone is his voice very apparent.

"Acknowledged. I'll report in when Optimus and Cheetor get here. Greyback out."

"Right," Optimus puffed out his chest and readied himself for his mission, "I'll get Cheetor…" he began.

"Uh, no, I'll get him," Jagna rushed in hurriedly. When Optimus gave her a questioning look, she quickly said, "I want you to get a head start, see what you can scan from the air. …Well, don't just stand there, go! Fly!" She waved her arms to shoo him away and, though bemused, he complied. "I'll get Cheetor," she said to assure him as he headed for the exit, "He's fast enough, he'll catch up."

"Why are you sending them?" Bounder asked his leader as he watched Optimus roll away, a little resentfully.

"Because, from what I've gathered, they've had more and closer experiences with the aliens," Jagna replied simply as she headed towards where she saw Cheetor run off to, "and I have a hunch…"

"What kind of hunch?" the hare asked, now curious.

"Dunno," she said, shrugging. "We'll see, though won't we?" She then turned to Rhinox, "Skylark's out of com range for the next few hours, can you think of anyone who could help you monitor any changes in the atmosphere?"

The rhino thought carefully for a moment. "Lightwing," he announced. Jagna nodded and called for the little technician. "Let's hope this doesn't end like last time…" Rhinox added quietly to himself.

…

……

…

The same Vok anomaly had been detected by the Predacons. Alarms were blaring throughout the corridors of Porta Magma.

"Team Gamma! Assemble in the control room, NOW!" screamed Arachnikahn through the monitors. The members of said team rolled their optics and dragged their feet towards the meeting point.

"Where is your team leader?" Kahn demanded when Darkwing, Gearcrush and Antiquitora begrudgingly crept through the door. The spider squinted, "You appear to be a pair short…"

"We are still missing Steelclaw and Xaphron," Darkwing answered slowly. She and Gearcrush glanced at each other, while Antiquitora swallowed quietly.

"Any thoughts on their whereabouts?"

"Xaphon wassss lassst ssssseen leaving Grid Targon with sssome unidentifffied transssformer," Serpentia answered snidely, "and it jusssst so happensss that Ssssteelclaw wasss her ssscouting buddy."

"Hmph. Regardless, where the Pit is Gammatron? Am I to rename this assault group Team Moron? Team Buffoon?!"

"That shan't be necessary," Gammatron said lazily when he wandered into the room. "Apologies for my lateness, I was attempting to track down that snivelling mongrel Steelclaw. I have evidence to suggest, oh wise leader, that that mangy brute has been leaking information to this Megatron."

Everyone took a step back at Kahn's expression. It was like watching a raging volcano on the brink of eruption.

Before he could say anything, Serpentia interrupted, "What possssible reason would he have for doing sssuch a thing?"

"No matter!" Kahn snapped, cutting the cobra off. "We have more important things to attend to at this. Three Maximals are making their way to an anomaly this very moment. An anomaly with which are all very familiar…"

He went on to explain the situation, and soon the bored faces of his troops melded to terror. All but Gammatron.

"We must make sure we get to it before the Maximals, AND Megatron. You know you're duties. Now move! NOW!"

They scarpered. Once outside the group leader (Gammatron) ordered Darkwing and Gearcrush to go ahead of him. "Wait for me at the border of Sector 8. Do not dare go on without my permission." When asked why, he gave no answer but a low growl

"Antiquitora!" he called as she moved off with the rest of the group.

"Yeeees?" she winced and turned to him.

"You're coming with me. There is something I would to…share with you…"

She reluctantly followed, but she kept her eagle head held high with ignorant pride. Her wings twitched, her lion tail flicked and her talons dug into the earth as she followed the big lizard through denser and denser foliage.

At last, she asked, "Where are we going?"

He smiled when he answered, "To confer."

"With?"

"You will find out…now…"

Antiquitora's beak knocked into something and she stopped in her tracks, her wings shuffling at the small shock. A bright rectangular pool of light suddenly materialised in front of her. In defence, she transformed and braced herself. Gammatron had disappeared from her side, but before she could fathom his whereabouts, a large ominous shadow appeared in the light. The griffon fuzor reeled back as it spoke to her:

"Welcome my dear. I believe you know my brother…"

Gammatron appeared out of thin air, as did Megatron's ship. A cloaking device…

"What a pleasure it is to meet you at last. I look forward to your ongoing cooperation." The dragon mech smiled creepily.

…

……

…

Somewhere in the frozen north, specifically Grid Arton, Sector 17, a still steaming wreck lay abandoned in a ditch at the end of a long impact trail. The strong arctic winds slammed against the scorched sides and thrust rogue snowflakes into the deep set footprint of three individuals. One set of footprints had four feet, the others had six and eight.

Several miles from the crash site the said trio trudged against the wind, the unforgiving elements testing their tolerance levels to their fullest.

"This was an insane idea!" one screamed to another.

"What?!" the other screamed back, turning their head relatively easily with the help of the force of the wind.

"THIS. WAS. INSANE!"

"Pipe down, the pair of you!" yelled the third from the front. Blackarachnia stretched out her legs, breaking the ice that had frozen in and around her joints. She, Silverbolt and Hijinx had been trudging through the snow an ice for nearly three days. They had been forced repeatedly to stop and perform internal repairs due to the growing severity of the storm.

The plan was simple in theory: repair the pod, find Optimus and warn him of impending doom. In practice, however, the pod was far too damaged for any immediate repair with no supplies, they didn't know where on Earth Optimus and the others were…or where they were for that matter. So Silverbolt had suggested they head south towards warmer territories.

Mistake.

Three days later, they had only progressed a few miles. Hijinx did not procure a beast mode for two reasons. Firstly there was no life within scanning distance, and secondly she refused to fall into the 'beastie trap'.

"Typical I should be stranded on an insignificant dirt ball with a pair of Maximals who don't even know the place!" was among the things she would shout out at random intervals.

Silverbolt was at breaking point and Blackarachnia was losing patience. She turned around and was about to scorn the squabbling pair, when the wind suddenly died down. No one had noticed that Silverbolt had been whimpering like an injured puppy the entire time until the noise level dropped, and he quickly fell silent when he realised. Then it started to rain, and it was warm.

"Okay…what the slag?" Hijinx commented, holding out her hand, "I knew this planet was screwed up but…what the slag?"

The Maximals puzzled that statement. It was indeed a very odd and sudden change in the weather. Blackarachnia shuddered. She felt strange…

"…is everything alright, my love?" the fuzor asked, catching a raindrop in his hand and studying it scrupulously.

In response, the widow femme squinted at observed the sky. "I just cant shake the feeling, after all this time," she said slowly, gripping her arms tightly, "…they're still here."

"Who?" Silverbolt demanded, worriedly, taking his love in his arms.

"The Vok…"

She wasn't looking at her, so Blackarahnia didn't notice the Predacon's reaction to the name. Hijinx's expression lifted curiously and her optics indicated the wheels in her head were turning.

"We must find Optimus and the others fast," Silverbolt suggested, "before Megatron arrives and discovers…this…" he said uncertainly, waving his hand towards the newly coloured heavens.

"If he isn't already here…" Blackarachnia answered glumly. With a heightened sense of urgency, they carried on, thankfully with more ease, towards the south, where other peculiar phenomenons were taking place…

…

……

…

For some reason, Cheetor had been very quiet the entire journey. At least, the times he hadn't run off ahead. Optimus was very puzzled by this; it was not in the cat's nature. He was about to confront the young Maximal when an unnaturally loud clap of thunder filled the air, and three strings of purple lightning converged across the endless sky. The Maximal trio stopped dead in their tracks.

"That was…terrifying…" Greyback commented uncomfortably.

"Hey, guys?" Cheetor spoke for the first time since they left, "Is it just me or is everything looking a bit funky?"

They looked around them, and even though Greyback and Optimus didn't initially know what exactly was 'funky', it soon became clear. The sky had turned a deep orange colour, and the clouds were dark blue.

"That's…weird…" the Maximal lieutenant observed. He sniffed the air, and choked. "Cugh! Smell that?"

Optimus and Cheetor took a whiff, and reacted just as Greyback had.

"What is that, sulphur?" Cheetor asked, covering his nose with his paw.

"Actually…" Optimus responded slowly, reluctantly taking another sniff at the air, "…it smells like raw energon…" The other two stared at him.

"That's impossible," said Greyback, "there haven't been any deposits on the planet for millennia!"

"Perhaps," Optimus agreed, "but perhaps there's an unknown link between the smell and what's happening above us…"

"Tchuh. Ya don't say…" Cheetor snapped sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Optimus looked curiously at the cat. He didn't often talk back to him in that manner.

Another rumble echoed through the heavens. The Maximals glanced nervously skywards; the blue clouds bean to swirl, and the purple lightening became more frequent and violent.

Then a call from base came in from Jagna. "Are you three alright?"

"Affirmative," the wolf answered, still staring at the spectacularly multicoloured phenomenon, "I, uh, don't suppose you've got the monitors up?"

"Ooh yes," the Maximal leader replied. Back at Pangaea One, she stood behind Rhinox and Lightwing, who frantically typed away at the console keyboards, their jaws on the floor. None of them had seen anything quite like this.

"This is elaborate even for our alien friends," Rhinox commented as a complex matrix of schematics scrolled down on the screen in front of him.

"You'd better figure out what's going on, Grey. And fast. Apparently the rivers are now a nice shade of pink," Jagna replied, dumbstruck as she continued to receive a wave of communications from very confused field units.

"Alright. We'll report back when we've found something."

"Grey?" Jagna said before he could close the channel.

"Yeah?"

"…Be careful."

He smiled. "I will. Over and out."

Optimus smiled warmly at that little interaction. It was good to know that even during difficult times Maximals could always band together. But that got him wondering about Cheetor again. What was with the cat today?

"Look!" Cheetor suddenly said as his ears quickly shot up.

On the horizon, an eerie white glow began to flash. The trio stared at it as its ominous presence seeped into their circuits.

"Feel that?" the cat continued, referring to the sudden shill running down his spine and the pressure pushing against his entire body. Before either of the other two could speak, Rhinox interrupted through the com-link.

"You guys better hurry! We've just detected a Predacon scouting group leaving their base. We don't want them trying anything…"

In immediate response, Cheetor said, "I'm on it!" and ran off with his thrusters on full boost.

"Cheetor, wait!" Optimus cried. Cheetor ignored him and sped off. With an irritated shake of the head, Optimus turned to Greyback and said, "Get on, we'll catch up to him eventually."

To which Greyback froze. "Uh, I think I should, well I mean, I can…I can run fast enough…" He cricked his neck and shuffled his feet.

"Cheetor's always been fast," Optimus replied blandly, "Do I need to point out he has Mach 2 turbo boosters? He's probably already there,"

"Yeah, but I uh…um…" Greyback stuttered uncomfortably. He look on either side of him as if he actually expected someone to be there, then beckoned Optimus closer to him so he could whisper, "I'm uh…I'd appreciated this if you don't tell anyone…I'm not…comfortable with flying. Or just…heights in general…" He concluded his confession with an uncomfortable shuffle and a cough.

Optimus couldn't help himself. He let out a short but loud burst of laughter. When Greyback looked at him gut wrenched and confused, the gorilla justified, "I'm really sorry Greyback, but I've known that for a while now."

"What?! Since when?" the wolf demanded.

"Shortly after you met, after we escaped the Predacon base for the first time," Optimus answered, still chuckling lightly, "You left a dent in my left wing where you held on…"

Greyback stared at the floor, and Optimus put a hand (or rather, a finger) on his shoulder. "There's no need to be ashamed of it. But I really don't think now is the time. I promise, I'll stay as close to the ground as I can."

After a few seconds consideration, Grey nodded and Optimus transformed into flight mode. As he climbed onto a wing, the lieutenant muttered, "I must be outta my mind…"

…

……

…

As the Maximal party charged towards Grid Axiom, the Predacon assault party (minus two) had finally reached the border of Sector 8, and now waited for Gammatron and Antiquitora to join them. Both Darkwing and Gearcrush had noticed the change in the atmosphere, but were pre-occupied with other things.

"Steelclaw…traitor?" Gearcrush asked in his usual dull grunt.

"It would appear so," the raven answered, thoughtfully stroking her sai blades. "But then, things are often…more than meets the eye…"

"More…whu?" the large mech scratched his head stupidly, and the raven cursed under her breath.

"Imbecile. Steelclaw may not be a traitor. As big a glitch head as he is…" she muttered distastefully, "he's not brave or smart enough to betray Kahn. Not alone anyway."

Gearcrush grunted loudly, "Bah. Bird bot not know what she saying. Aliens problem now. Smash aliens first."

Her optics rolled into the back of her head, when finally Gammatron arrived.

"Where the scrap have you been?" she demanded.

"Careful, ninja." Gammatron warned with a lingering flick of his tongue, "Remember who is in charge here today."

Darkwing huffed defiantly, "You may be assault team leader, but you can't boss me around you overgrown gecko! Besides, where's the fuzor?"

Something flickered in his beady black eyes when Gammatron answered. "She had more important business to attend to."

"More important than this?" Darkwing inquired suspiciously.

"Far more than you can imagine," Gammatron replied darkly. "Move out. That's an order…" he ordered poignantly.

She obeyed, albeit reluctantly. Gearcrush, having ignored most of the conversation, slithered along behind them, occasionally glancing up at the orange sky and blue clouds.

"Not liking weather…" she stated bluntly.

"Yes, rather peculiar, isn't it?" Gammatron answered as coolly as if it were raining in summer. Darkwing narrowed her eyes suspiciously but flew on ahead. All of a sudden, she noticed a large white glow in the distance.

"I see something!" she yelled immediately, pointing a wing towards the direction of the source of light.

"Excellent," the komodo whispered quietly to himself. Then he ordered, "Get to it now! We don't want the Maximals reaching it before us! They must not interfere!"

They did so. Darkwing flapped her wings as hard as she could, Gearcrush slithered as fast as he had ever done and Gammatron transformed and fell into a full sprint. They arrived at a set of standing stones, resting in a glacial valley, whose rivers had long since dried up and disappeared. All that remained was a flat, earthy plain where these large shrines stood proudly observing the landscape.

Darkwing was the first to arrive, and perched herself atop one such stone. It was twice the size of Gearcrush, by far the largest transformer on the planet, save Primal. She was followed closely by the two mechs, who stood in awe of the magnificent structure.

Shaking it off, Gammatron's mind set to work. What did Megatron say to do? It was all so complicated. But first he had to ensure his two moronic stooges would not do anything…moronic.

"Scan the area," he instructed sharply, distractedly heading straight for the centre. There were so many stones, placed close together and far apart, it was like a maze. It must be around here somewhere…

Darkwing soared into the air, trying to see where the Komodo dragon was heading. She saw a clearing in the centre of the structure. "What are you looking for?"

The she spotted Gearcrush, creeping and snaking his way around the stones. Decisively, she swooped down to him and revealed a path to the centre.

"Tell lizard bot," the boa constrictor began, but Darkwing cut him off.

"No. He's up to something. He's uh…" she had to improvise in order to get the big juggernaut to do as she said, "trying to keep the glory for himself!" she finally said, improvising feverishly. "We'll find what he's looking for so Kahn will reward us! How does that sound, big guy?"

"Sound good!" the snake replied almost immediately, and blindly followed the crafty bird to their mysterious destination.

At the centre, a large circular stone table sat majestically on a patch of green grass. In the middle was a small black orb. Darkwing flew in for a closer look, but some invisible force shield propelled her away. Grunting, she transformed and slowly approached it again. She held out her hand to see exactly where the shield was. It was encasing the orb, protecting it from outside invaders.

"It must be real important to have its own shield. Powerful stuff," she added, rubbing the back of her neck.

Then, rather unexpectedly, Gearcrush punched the shield and yelled in pain when his attempts to get to the sphere did not work. He tried again. And again, failing and yelling in pain each time. That was when Gammatron showed up, horrified.

"Stop you fool!" He drew his weapon, but he was too slow for Darkwing, who shot him square in the chest and slamming him into one of the stones.

Pressing her blade against his throat she forcefully demanded, "What are you up to? Why were you so eager to get here first? What is that thing?!"

She was surprisingly strong for a smaller bot, and all Gammatron could do was flinch as Gearcrush relentlessly hit the force shield to no avail.

"GRR! Piece of SLAG!" the angry serpent roared, clasping his enormous fists above his head, and slamming them onto the stone surrounding the orb.

"NO!" Gammatron yelled. But it was too late. The enormous crack Gearcrush had created caused the stone to short circuit. Sparks of energy spread across it, down it and under their feet, fanning outwards to form a circle around them. The floor began to glow an ominous white.

They fled the immediate vicinity as the henge glowed more brightly. After several seconds it disappeared, but then burst into an upwards stream of bluish energy, shooting into the sky like a rocket.

Elsewhere Greyback, Optimus and Cheetor had arrived at a similar set of standing stones on a sandy plain…twenty miles away. Their monument began to glow as well, and did the same as the Predacon's.

Somewhere in the middle, the two streams collided, and with that impact followed a tremendous explosion. Lightning struck hundreds of locations within a ten mil radius and the clouds at the convergence point circled madly like a hurricane.

At both locations, a new monument appeared, just as it had done at the very first encounter…

"Well, that's just Prime…"

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


	9. Broken Mirrors

Beast Wars REBIRTH

VOULUME 2

**Chapter 24:** Broken Mirrors

"You fool!" screamed Gammatron, waving his arms furiously at the dim-witted Gearcrush. "You'll ruin everything!"

To which the insulted serpent growled and grabbed the other reptile's throat in anger as gale force winds slammed against him.

"Bird right!" he realised, tightening his grip, "TRAITOR!"

Darkwing descended on them with her sais held tightly in her hands. "What are you up to you underhanded snake in the grass?!"

"Hey!" Gearcrush moaned offensively.

"Shut up. Now," she continued, returning her focus to Gammatron, "Who are you working for?" she hissed menacingly. She didn't notice the glint in Gammatron's eye when he saw something behind her. Neither did she find out, because she was shot in the back with a powerful stunning beam. Gearcrush roared to see who had fired, dropping his captive. However he too was shot down with the same beam, but instead of knocking him flat out like Darkwing, he was weakened and dropped to his knees. Through blurred optics he could just make out his attacker.

"…Tora?" he pleaded groggily. The griffon fired again, putting him into stasis lock.

"About bloody time," Gammatron sneered, rubbing his sore neck. Antiquitora ignored him, her top lip nearly reaching her nose in a resentful sneer. Behind her, Megatron and his crew emerged.

"Why must I always look out for you, little brother?" Megatron asked amusedly. In response, Gammatron huffed and gave the unconscious boa constrictor a swift kick. Megatron continued, carefully examining the obelisk, "Now what do we have here? Hm. It seems my dear friends have returned. Ha, I'm surprised old Tarantulas didn't come to greet them himself…"

"Apparently he's had a run in with them before," Gammatron observed. When Megatron raised a brow at him, he continued, "**After** you left."

"Sure, but now what?" Coppertop piped up, much to Megatron's annoyance.

"Silence fool!" said the original Megatron with his yellow optics glowing. Gammatron shuffled uneasily. He would not get used to that in a hurry. "I have been assured by my pitiful excuse for a descendent, that all will play out. And he had better be right!"

Megatron gave himself a sharp slap on the head. "Give over, you old codger. We may be experiencing a small setback at present…" he stroked one of the stones with his finger, "…but things have a funny way of playing out to my advantage."

"Save being repeatedly defeated, humiliated and then incarcerated," interjected Flux with an amusedly malicious grin.

All of a sudden, before Megatron could react, the Predacon rebels heard a slow pulsation right next to them. They looked up to discover the sound was emanating from the alien structure. Suddenly, from the top centre, a pool of shield energy spilled over and down to the ground, like thick liquid being poured over an invisible dome.

"Ahhh," Megatron exclaimed in awe, "they're awake. Excellent, yesss…"

…

……

…

The exact same thing happened at the Maximal's location. Greyback, Optimus and Cheetor reeled back as the bubble-like surface of the shield coated the obelisk. The pulsations got louder and faster.

Stepping decisively forward, Cheetor said with vigorous determination, "We've got to go in!"

He charged forward, but Greyback ran into his path. Cheetor stubbornly tried to charge past him, but the wolf mech grabbed the young Maximal and held him back.

"No! You guys can't go near it! What if it recognises your altered forms, you may never get out!" Greyback shouted warningly, holding a struggling Cheetor's arms firmly behind his back. Transmetal or not, the cat was not as strong as the lieutenant.

"Well then, what do you suggest we do?!" Cheetor snarled back, ducking through Greyback's arms and freeing himself. Grey breathed heavily, getting angrier at the cat.

"You can't go, but **I** can!" He stood firm, his chest out and fists clenched.

"You can't, Greyback," Optimus interrupted, also getting caught up in the heat of the anger, "At least we've been through this sort of thing before, who knows what it'll do to you?!"

"We'll have to find out then, won't we?" Optimus and Cheetor advanced on him but he held out his hands, "Neither of you will take one step further. That's an ORDER."

They halted. He looked resilient. In fact, he even withdrew his weapon. Cheetor did the same. Optimus looked down at his feline companion. A face-off wasn't in his character, so why even threaten it? Then he looked back to the lieutenant. Somehow, he was staring at both of them.

"I won't risk your lives. Wait here."

Was it compulsion to follow orders or admiration that held Optimus and Cheetor back as the brave Greyback marched towards the obelisk's forcefield with no regards for his own safety? Whatever the reason, they held back, watching with anticipation.

Greyback's breathing was heavy. It took up a lot of his courage to do what he was doing, but also to face up to those two to do so. With each cautious step he ignored thoughts like, _This is crazy!_ that swam madly through his head.

Finally he reached the glowing parameter. It was an awesome sight, despite the looming prospect of death. He could see a second much smaller forcefield at the centre of the ring, and there was a spherical object floating on a podium within it. According to Rhinox, that was what was emitting off-the-scale energy charges causing irregularities in the planet's atmosphere…somehow.

He closed his eyes tight shut and held out his hand. He felt a stinging sensation sweep through his body from his fingertips right to the tip of his tail. He grunted slightly, pulled himself together, and forced the rest of himself through.

The tingling continued, but it wore off within a few seconds. Greyback activated one optic and inspected himself. _All there. Good._ He sighed with relief. But when he fully opened both his eyes he gasped in shock.

"Woah!"

It was like a tardis in there. From the outside, all he had seen was the floor, but now that he was within the protective boundary, the entire alien structure became visible. Though he did not know it, this obelisk was almost identical to the one Rattrap and Airazor had found many millennia ago. It was vast in its emptiness, and equally as eerie.

The wolf mech gulped, and it seemed to echo for miles, even though he could still just about see out the other side. He turned around, and the semitransparent forms of Optimus and Cheetor were still visible. To check if they would still see him, he waved his arm, and they waved back.

Outside, Optimus shook his head disapprovingly. "He shouldn't be in there…" he repeated.

"You've already said that Big Bot," Cheetor snapped with an oddly irritated tone, "Why don't you point something else out to make our situation sound worse?"

Optimus was shocked. "Mind that tone, Cheetor," he scorned sternly, "all I'm saying is no one should be in there without knowing what they're facing."

"Oh, but I suppose **you** could?" Cheetor retorted quickly, glaring up at the optimal gorilla, "And since when was that your attitude, Optimus? Whatever happened to protecting your friends no matter what? Or have the years back on Cybertron made you soft in the head?"

"Where is this coming from, Cheetor?" Optimus asked more angrily, turning to face the feline, "You have very little ground to comment on my experience, let alone my attitude. Speaking of which, I disapprove of yours right now, so zip it!"

"No!" Cheetor bellowed frustratedly, taking a step to the side, "Stop trying to stifle me, Optimus! I'm not a kid!"

"Then stop acting like one, for Primus' sake!"

"HEY!" Greyback shouted from within the obelisk. The squabbling pair turned their heads. "I'm trying to concentrate in here!" he continued, annoyed.

He was right next to the second forcefield, but the sounds from outside seemed to be projected under the middle of the dome, and he heard every word of their argument. Frankly, it was making him nervous.

All three Maximals, both inside and out, stood silent. Optimus and Cheetor watched on tenderhooks as Greyback slowly reached out his hand again.

But this time, the pain was like acid searing into his plating, and he yelled, immediately withdrawing his hand. He clenched his fist in his other hand and inspected the damage. Several layers of blue plating had been peeled back, and in places the steel armour itself had gone completely, exposing his vulnerable circuits.

"Greyback!" he heard Optimus' voice wandered through the structure, "Pull away now, it's not worth it!"

That only made the wolf more determined. This couldn't go on. Somehow, this thing was altering the conditions in the atmosphere, endangering all his comrades and the entire planet. Even the Predacons. Patriotic as he was, he couldn't let them suffer like that. He shook his head, and plunged his entire arm in the forcefield.

He stifled a painful yell by biting his lip, causing tooth-shaped dents to appear.

He reached for the sphere in the centre, and grabbed a hold of it. It was like grasping white hot iron, but he kept his hold. He could see markings on it, an on its podium. The markings were the familiar alien dialect he had seen many times before. He could see that the symbols were mismatched.

He knew what he had to do, without knowing he knew.

In the most unendurable agony, he turned the artefact, yelling painfully with each rotation. It was much harder than he thought…which was saying something, as he thought it would be impossible. Despite floating effortlessly, the device weighed a tonne.

At last, the markings on the sphere matched those on the podium, and Greyback sighed with relief, but also with pain. But when he tried to let go, his hand appeared to be glued to the sphere.

"Uh oh…"

Uh oh indeed. The markings on the sphere began to glow white in his hand. He attempted to wrench himself away, but his hand remained stationary in the forcefield.

…

……

…

Meanwhile, the second monument began to glow, just the same as the first (except no one had ventured inside it). The slightly transparent wall made an orb of some sort visible to the Predacons outside.

An ultra sonic screech suddenly emitted from within. It was deafening. Everyone covered the audio receptors and reeled over at the immense pain in their processors.

But beneath the high pitched squeal, a low, grumbling voice spoke in an incomprehensible language. It sounded like a message.

Once it had finished, Megatron looked up and smiled.

"Did you get that?" he asked Flux.

"Affirmative," the mech answered, holding a small handheld recording device.

"Excellent. We have what we need. Move out…"

…

……

…

The blue clouds in the sky gathered and began to swirl above them. From outside, the two Maximals could see there was a problem. The figure inside struggled to get free from something.

"Grey!" Cheetor shouted at the top of his voice. He charged towards the outer defence as if about to break down a door.

"Cheetor!" Optimus called in a fleeting attempt to stop him. It was no use. Cheetor slammed into the 'wall', and in a flash of electrical charge the cat was propelled backwards.

"Get off me!" Cheetor spat as Optimus attempted to help him up. Optimus scowled, but their attention was drawn back to the obelisk when they could hear Greyback's pleading shouts of agony. They felt helpless knowing there was nothing they could do.

Cheetor's impact with the shield seemed to trigger a reaction. Greyback stopped shouting, much to his own surprise. There was no longer any pain. He looked down at the orb, whose markings continued to glow.

All of a sudden, he heard what sounded like a whip crack, and the entire orb began to glow. His optics widened and he yelled again, not in pain this time but fear as the glowing started to crawl up his hand. He uselessly tried to brush it away, but it continued to spread over him until his entire body was encased in glowing, bright white light.

Outside, Cheetor and Optimus were shouting for him at the top of their lungs, firing helplessly at the shield.

Above them, the clouds descended into the dome and the sky started to turn its original colour.

All was silent for the briefest of moments, then…

BANG!

A massive explosion knocked Optimus and Cheetor off their feet. When they looked up, a glowing white figure, Greyback, was hurtled several hundred feet above and away from them.

"Greyback!" Optimus yelled. He turned his head back towards the obelisk, which shook uncontrollably.

"Go get Greyback, I'll handle this!" Cheetor instructed, lifting himself off the ground.

"What?"

"Go! You can reach him faster than me, my jets are out!" He pointed to his back-mounted turbo booster, which had shorted out when Cheetor ran into the shield.

"Cheetor…"

"Just GO, Optimus!" the cat yelled fiercely, his optics ablaze. Confused but driven, Optimus transformed into flight mode and took off after Greyback.

Once he was gone, Cheetor took several long paces towards the monument, which still shook. He could now see what Greyback had had a hold of. It was still glowing, but very dimly. The forcefields appeared to have vanished, but even Cheetor wasn't stupid enough to charge right in like he had done with the Transmetal 2 driver. All he did for the time being was inspect the orb with his scanners.

But it was also scanning him. Without warning, it lifted itself off its podium and sped towards him. Thankfully, Cheetor's cat-quick reflexes allowed him to dodge the thing. But it followed him, and he dodged again. And again and again.

Eventually though, it caught up with him. It latched itself onto his back and they both started to glow bright white. The cat gave a surprised yell.

Then it let go of him and hovered casually back to its podium. It placed itself gently on its resting place, and the whole monument disappeared as all alien devices did: by glowing eerily and shooting upwards in a stream of energy into space.

A groggy Cheetor looked up to where the thing vanished in the sky. Somehow he felt…smaller. He definitely felt different, but familiar at the same time. That thing had taken a lot of his energy, so he couldn't think straight. With some effort, he pulled himself off the ground and limped off the direction Optimus and Greyback had gone.

…

……

…

About 3 kilometres away, Optimus finally tracked down where Greyback landed. Frankly, it wasn't hard to find him. There was a huge fresh crater with rocks still burning and sizzling on its banks.

Optimus transformed and cautiously descended the sides of the crater and headed for the limp figure in the middle. It was nearly dusk, so he could just about see the outline of the Maximal lieutenant.

"Greyback?" Optimus asked.

He heard a groan, and Greyback started to get up.

"Optimus?" the wolf asked wearily. He had his back towards Optimus, and clutched his head. Optimus stared. Greyback looked…different.

"Greyback…are you OK?" the gorilla inquired.

The wolf slowly turned around. Optimus' optics widened and he gasped.

"What?" Grey asked, slightly worried at Primal's reaction. But he did not need Optimus to answer that.

Greyback saw his hands. They were repaired, and no longer dark blue. They were chrome silver, and his forearms now had two large blades attached to them.

"What the?"

Without saying a word, Optimus withdrew one of his shield guards and placed it on the ground like a mirror in front of Greyback.

Greyback's jaw nearly hit the ground. At least, he assumed it was his jaw. The figure he saw in the mirror was not the Greyback he was used to seeing. His exostructure had been completely altered. His helmet was also a different colour, a 'beard' now framed his face, and his chest…where was all his fur? He saw parts of a beast mode covered him, and they were sleek and shiny, and different shades of blue and gold.

He was a Transmetal.

"Well…" Greyback began, inspecting his new form in awe and confusion, "…this is different…"

Optimus smiled amusedly at Greyback's expression, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling," the wolf began, giving his chest plate another once-over, "good. I'm feeling great!" he finished with a wide smile.

"Greyback?" Cheetor's voice came from over the ridge of the crater, "Man alive, what the heck happened?"

Greyback looked up to the source of the cat's voice, and his smile disappeared, and was replaced by a very confused face.

"…Cheetor?" he asked bewildered, "Is that…you?"

Optimus cocked his head, confused. Did Greyback not recognise Cheetor because of the Transmetalisation? That couldn't be it, if the wolf managed to recognise him. The gorilla turned around.

His mouth fell open. "Cheetor!"

"What?!" the cat asked defensively.

"Have you…seen yourself, cat?" Greyback asked, almost forgetting about his own new form.

"What? Lemme see…" Cheetor slid down the ridge and stood in front of the makeshift mirror.

He stared.

"Aw, MAN!"

He had reverted back to his first Transmetal form.

"What the slagging heck?! What? How? WHAT?!"

"Woah, calm down, Cheetor," Optimus tried to assure him, but the cat was a little too energetic with surprise.

"No, I won't calm down. Look at me!"

"I don't see the problem here," commented Greyback, who managed to stand next to Cheetor to inspect both their Transmetal selves, "I mean, we look pretty slick, don't you think?"

Cheetor banged his head against the 'mirror'.

"What's with him?" Greyback asked Optimus, who shook his head.

"Long story…"

Then Optimus noticed something slightly different about the cheetah's old Transmetal form.

"Cheetor…" he began, leaning in for a closer look, "…Have you noticed anything different about you?"

The cat looked up very slowly, "Is that a joke, Optimus? 'Cause it's not funny!"

"No, really. Take a good look at yourself…"

Cheetor obliged begrudgingly, and faced the mirror face on. For the first 20 or so seconds, all he could see was that he had been revoked of his Transmetal 2 qualities and good looks.

But wait…his hands were a normal shape…they didn't hold two halves of his beast head like they did before, but had dagger-like claws on his forearms, like Greyback's now did. And his face looked more 'mature', but still hosted his old goatee. He turned to his left, and his TM2 jet thruster was there, only smaller and more deluxe.

"Hunh…" Cheetor said, starting to warm up to the idea of all three of his earth forms merging as one, "…okay then…"

"Yeah, I still don't see what you two are seeing," Greyback interrupted, "but would someone mind telling me how this happened?" he asked, pointing at himself, catching a look in the mirror with a small admiring smile.

"I suppose we'll find out back at base," Optimus hinted.

"Right you are. Let's move out." Greyback ordered.

…

……

…

"Did you see that?" Megatron asked his crew as he gazed in the direction of the Maximals when they were only 10 klicks from their ship.

"See what?" asked a flummoxed Coppertop.

The other yellow-optic Megatron answered, "There was another! Interesting…"

"Indeed," the new Megatron continued, his annoyance at the constant interruptions clearly visible. "I've only ever known these alien devices to work one at a time. To have a second," he scratched his chin thoughtfully, "Oh yesss, this will certainly prove interesting."

"What about that crazy spider's Predacons?" Coppertop asked bluntly. "And uh, I just realised we left them in that thing," he added, pointing in the direction they had just come from. Antiquitora gazed back as well, but quickly turned away.

"What's your point Copperbottom?" Firewire sneered, lazily inspecting a rock she picked up.

"It's Coppertop," he snapped back, "and I'm just saying Tarantuwhatshisname is probably gonna start wondering where they are…"

"Hardly," Gammatron answered, "he has enough on his scrambled mind than to worry about two menial drones. Mostly my brother," he added with a sly smile. But his brother did not respond. He had completely forgotten about Darkwing and Gearcrush. If he knew those aliens, something would surely have happened to them. Something spectacular.

"Let us monitor that site from the safety of our ship," he ordered, "and keep an eye out for any strange signatures…"

"Alien?" inquired Flux.

"Something like that…"

…

……

…

Somewhere in the north, near an enormous glistening lake, a huge spacecraft had taken refuge on a bank. Its grey, metal vastness was so strikingly contrasted to the landscape that creatures of all sizes stayed well clear of it.

Inside, Ultra Magnus' crew assembled in the control centre. The Magnus watched slightly disapprovingly as the eager young crew bustled around excitedly, apparently unaware that he was waiting for them to settle down. Not a good start for a rookie crew.

Bee was the first to notice and took it upon herself to 'sort out the young ones'.

"Back off, Bee, you're not the boss of me," sneered NS, resentful of her very bossy and uptight tone.

"At least she's sensible enough to recognise when to follow orders," scorned Ultra Magnus, his irritation now vocal. His young crew finally stood to attention. He sighed, and continued. "This is a strange planet. I'm assuming you've all brushed up on your Earth data provided by Rhinox…" The crew nodded confidently, and he bluntly continued, "well, that's not enough. You are to be on your guard at all times. Some of the creatures here may not be so hospitable to our arrival."

NS snorted. "Like a bunch of dumb animals can do us any harm…"

Ultra Magnus turned sternly on his heel, firing the young rookie a harsh glare, "There's your first mistake. Assume nothing. Learn from his cadet's mistake, everyone, and perhaps you'll be alright."

The young bots lowered their heads, catching glances at each other with their optics full of dread. Seeing this, Ultra Magnus chuckled lightly.

"Ah, I suppose that's just the old tin can talking," he joked. It was well received, and the cadets relaxed a little. "But in the field, you are to be alert at all times…"

As if on cue, the whole ship shook violently, sending several of the crew off balance.

"What was that, a planet quake?" Flank hurriedly asked, having fallen into the arms of NS.

"Get offa me!" said NS, dropping the other Maximal.

"To your posts! Find out what that was!" ordered Ultra Magnus, just before a similar impact hit. The ship tipped further and several units lost their balance again before they reached their stations.

Nyx was the first to struggle her way over to the monitors, "Scanners aren't showing anything…"

"Change the variable frequencies," instructed Bee, bringing the exterior cameras online, "that wasn't any planet quake, or a missile charge or anything!"

Indeed it wasn't. A third blow to the hull finally knocked it over so hard it rocked back and forth twice before slipping off the steep bank and into the lake. The Cybertron team stumbled at the impact with the water.

"Bring up visual!" Magnus ordered the onboard computer. The 'window shutters' of the main bridge slowly opened, revealing the deep darkness of the lake, framed by bubbles and debris from the bank.

Suddenly, the ship lurched and it stopped sinking. Before anyone had a chance to comprehend what was happening it spun around the face the body of the water. The crew gasped with fright and horror at the sight in front of them.

An enormous aquatic reptile had the front of the ship in its clutches, and it glared angrily at the occupants with sharp, clenched teeth.

Then the beast (Nessie) yelled with such ferocity, "Noo one trespasses in my lake!"

***

Disclaimer: I claim no rights to Beast Wars © Hasbro or its characters. However all original plotlines and characters herein belong to me.

***


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